Spring 10-day football practices end in scrimmage

HOLDER MAKES CATCH – Pioneer receiver Donte Holder makes a catch for a first down. (Photo by Lori Cathey)
by Lori Cathey
The Gibson County High School 2017 Pioneers football team concluded its 10-day spring practice recently with a scrimmage against Greenfield Yellowjackets in Greenfield. During the scrimmage the Pioneers scored four touchdowns and made three 2-points conversions with the Pioneers defense only giving up a touchdown.
Gibson County Head Coach Cody Finley said, “I saw some good things but also saw some bad things that we will have to work on.”
The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association allows high school football teams to conduct spring practices. Approximately 30 athletes, not including around 15 freshmen, took part in spring practice that began on May 4th. Spring practices are set for a maximum of 10 days; teams are allowed to have full-contact drills with regulation equipment for two hours per day. Once you start spring practice, you have 10 days within 15 school days to complete spring practice.
“Our 10-day practices went really good with the varsity team. Our contact hitting was better than last year and we hope to transfer that into our games,” added Coach Finley.
In the summer the team will be in the weight room working on strength and conditioning workouts preparing for this year season.
The TSSAA moved the Pioneer football team to Class 2A Region 7 for the 2017 through 2020 seasons. Teams the Pioneers will face in Region 7 are Adamsville, Halls, McKenzie, Peabody, Trinity Christian Academy and Union City. Gibson County will open up the 2017 football season on August 18th at Tipton-Rosemark in Millington and will host Lake County for the home opener August 25th.