Sandies Close Out Preseason
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
GRAPELAND – The Grapeland Sandies were back in action on Thursday evening, Aug. 19 for their final scrimmage before the regular season begins next week.
The Sandies welcomed the Class 2A DI Price-Carlisle Indians to Sandie Stadium for their last test before the Friday night lights begin to flicker to life.
The scrimmage opened with Junior Varsity on the field. The JV defense played well and made some really good plays on offense, highlighted by a pair of explosive runs.
When the Varsity Sandies took the field, their defense was put to the test. The Sandies’ D bent, but didn’t break.
Offensively, however, Grapeland went nowhere initially. The offense seemed to be in a funk until QB Riley Murchison found Zandric Anderson across the middle for a 15-yard completion.
Early on in the scrimmage, the Indians kept Cadarian Wiley in check – until they didn’t. And when they didn’t, Wiley went 70 yards to the end zone.
Following the possession part of the scrimmage, the two teams played a timed quarter.
The Sandies opened with possession and went nowhere, giving the ball to Carlisle at their own 40. The Indians picked up 15 on first down but lost five on their next play when Anderson and Murchison leveled a Carlisle receiver in the backfield.
You have to take the bad with good, however, and on the next play from scrimmage the Carlisle QB connected on a 57-yard scoring strike to his receiver who had slipped by the coverage.
Grapeland’s second possession of the quarter was also a three-and-out, but the Indians returned the favor as they turned the ball over when C. Wiley stepped in front of a pass for an interception.
The turnover seemed to light a fire under the Sandies as the offense began to click. C. Wiley ripped off an 11-yard gain and then Murchison followed up with back-to-back completions to Anderson for 35 yards.
A bad exchange on the snap pushed Grapeland back nine yards, but Murchison got it back when he connected with Omarian Wiley for 11 yards. Older brother Cadarian took over from there as he bounced a handoff to the outside and housed it from 35- yards out.
Since this was a scrimmage and the refs need to work on their games as well, we’ll just pretend there wasn’t a penalty on the play that called the TD back.
When Carlisle got the ball back, they gave it right back to the Sandies on another turnover as C. Wiley snagged a 55-yard pick-six. Once again, however, since this was a scrimmage and the refs need to work on their games as well, we’ll just pretend there wasn’t a penalty on the play that called the TD back.
After the scrimmage, AD/Head Coach Jordan Wood was asked about his team’s performance.
“We were a lot sloppier tonight. They are a very, very good football team. We did not match their intensity today but it was a great demonstration for our kids as to where we have to get to,” Coach Wood said.
He added, “It’s like we talked about the other day – the intensity it takes to play in big 2A is different than in small 2A and they got a taste of that tonight. It was a really good, fun matchup. Attention to detail with the penalties – it’s important to overcome them or better yet, wipe ‘em out altogether.”
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
