Watauga goes

mad at night

By Steve Behr
Watauga’s first practice in full pads capped a special night that included a raffle to win $5,000 prize, a dinner catered by Dan’l Boone Inn, a keynote speech from Appalachian State head coach Jerry Moore and motivational speaker R.V. Brown.

Actually, the dinner, raffle and the speeches by Moore and Brown were completed a good hour and a half before the Pioneers took the field at midnight Saturday to cap Watauga’s Midnight Madness event. Watauga practiced until 1:30 a.m., working on contact drills before scrimmaging in front of some diehard parents and fans, who stayed for the entire workout.

“It’s fun,” defensive lineman Robbie Sherrill said. “After a week of not getting to hit, all that pent-up anger is there and I hope we can keep doing it.”

“The fan support was the biggest thing of the night,” Pioneers coach Tim Pruitt said. “They stuck around and I was surprised at that. I guess a few of them have to give their kids a ride home, but thank you to the fans and we tried to pass them on to them.”

Pruitt felt the defense was ahead of the offense, but added that isn’t unusual after just one week of practices.
“Overall, there’s a lot of rust there,” Pruitt said. “There’s some technique we need to correct when it comes to tackling and blocking, but overall I was pleased. I think we’ve got some kids who will get a good night’s rest and hopefully they won't sleep in too much and get in here for treatment and all that.”

“I think the defense did really well,” defensive lineman Tanner Wilson said. “I think the D-line and the whole defense did well.”

Pruitt was also happy with how the players were hitting, but added that some technique, especially in tackling, needs to be drilled into his players.

“I was doing the trail drill and we’re hitting each other good and getting our heads across and doing the right things, but there are things we have to work on,” Pruitt said. “But it's the first night and we had a quick little tutorial on some tackling.”

The Pioneers go back to their usual practice routine of workouts beginning Monday at 4 p.m.