NHS GRIZZLIES WRAP UP ANOTHER SOLID WEEK OF PRACTICE

Once Northside’s football team returned to campus from their three-day retreat at Fort Chaffee exactly one week ago, there wasn’t much of a rest period. The Grizzlies immediately went back to work on Monday, though there was limited contact that day and Tuesday. Then, they turned things up a notch the rest of the week, culminating with an intra-squad scrimmage Thursday night. “Like I told our players (last Saturday), the toughest day was going to be Monday because we had been out there (to Fort Chaffee) and also practiced seven times in six days, and so it was a real short turnaround from Saturday afternoon then back Monday morning at 7 (a.m.) and they handled it great,” Northside coach Mike Falleur said. Falleur added the team went on to have a good week, including a solid showing in Thursday’s scrimmage. “It went good,” he said. “We limited our (first team) in reps and got a lot of our younger guys a lot of reps, so it was what we wanted. “It wasn’t a long scrimmage, it was 45 minutes to an hour, and probably the first teamers got probably 35 to 40 plays and everybody else got the rest, probably 60, so it was good. Nobody got hurt, which at this point in this time of the year, that’s (good).” Another thing the Grizzlies’ coach has liked from his players, especially his returning starters, has been their consistent performance over the two-week period fall camp has taken place. “First of all, I’m going to say across the whole board, our team has done a good job in practice,” Falleur said. “I think our quarterback, Deuce (Wise), has done an outstanding job; I think (tailback) Eli Bolton has done a really good job. I think Josh Adkins on the offensive line has done really, really good and has been very consistent and that’s not to say that other ones haven’t. “Defensively, I think (lineman) Raytel Rone has had a really good camp. (Linebacker) Anthony Travis, (defensive backs) Greg Washington, Elijah Tabut, Montay Parks; I hate to call out single names because it’s across the board, but those are some guys that I feel like have done a good job.” The Grizzlies now get set to hold a benefit scrimmage Tuesday night at Mayo-Thompson Stadium against Bentonville West. “The game with Bentonville West Tuesday night will really give us a pretty good idea of where we are, because I think they’re a quality football team, and so we’ll see how we match up,” Falleur said. Tuesday’s scrimmage will begin at 6 p.m. The varsity team will play the first two quarters, then the younger players will play the next two quarters before the varsity returns to play an extra fifth quarter. “Really, a bunch of kids have done a really good job,” Falleur said. “They did a great job at Fort Chaffee, they’ve done a great job since we got back, now we’ve got to get ourselves ready to play a game-type situation Tuesday, evaluate that film and see where we are and what we really need to hone in on the next week and a half before we play (Rogers Heritage in the season opener Aug. 24) and get ready.”

NHS GRIZZLIES WRAP UP ANOTHER SOLID WEEK OF PRACTICE

BUCK RINGGOLD

Times Record | 8/11/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Brian D. Sanderford