Cumberland Gap High School took its football team to Oneida for their first scrimmage in preparation of the upcoming season.
At the start, the Panthers went on defense and played good and consistent football. Oneida moved the ball well on their second and third drives but had trouble finishing. Eventually the Indians found their stride and found the end zone a few times.
The Panthers offense began with the ball falling on the ground too many times. At times, their run game found the holes while other times backs were stopped in the backfield but as players subbed in and out of the game late the Panthers found something in the run game that had them moving the ball to the Indian’s red zone. Cumberland Gap finally got their first score with 29 minutes left in the two hour scrimmage.
New Head Coach Brett McPherson didn’t know what to expect, “We haven’t had that seven on seven or 11 on 11 experience yet so I really don’t know what our strengths and weaknesses are.”
The Panthers played hard and with purpose as they took on a perennial power. Defensively, the Panthers played the best and gave the coaches some good things to talk about while the offense was just a bit out of sync.
The Panthers will strap on the pads for real August 20 at Grainger.
