Comets lackluster in opening scrimmage

Comets lackluster in opening scrimmage

Written by Joe Chandler

Monday, 16 August 2010 08:05

Halifax County High School’s Dominic Henderson (6) broke through the middle of the Prince Edward County High School defensive line to pick up a good gain on this play during Friday’s pre-season scrimmage game at E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg. (Joe Chandler/Gazette-Virginian) New Halifax County High School head varsity football coach Dave Wojtecki had some promising reports on his team as the Comets worked through pre-season drills this past week. Wojtecki had nothing glowing to say about his team after Friday’s round of pre-season scrimmages against LCA and Prince Edward County at E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg. The Comets made some good defensive plays late in the day against both opponents, but as a whole on both offense and defense, the Comets didn’t show the sparkle that had shown on the practice field during the past week. “The effort was disappointing,” Wojtecki said as he watched his players gather their equipment for the trip back home. “Guys that we were counting upon to step up and be leaders didn’t do it today. That’s the frustrating thing about it. This being the first scrimmage, we knew we were going to make a lot of mistakes and that it would be rough, but you can always have effort and I don’t think we had it.” The Comets allowed only one score all afternoon, that coming early in the afternoon on a 10-yard run by LCA. Offensively, the Comets were unable to generate enough spark to score. Halifax County gained 50 yards on its offensive attempt of the day, with most of the yardage in that sequence coming through the air. Halifax County’s second team defensive unit recovered an LCA fumble during the second sequence, a sequence that pitted the second-team LCA offense against the Comets’ second-team defense. The Comets got a 39-yard run from Trey Roberts on the opening play of their ensuing offensive sequence only to see the 10-play sequence end with an interception on the final play at the 6-yard line. Halifax County had a few good offensive sequences against Prince Edward County with Dominic Henderson and Roberts getting the bulk of the runs for the Comets’ first-team offensive unit. However, they were unable to score. “I’m very disappointed in today because I know the team is better than what they gave,” Wojtecki said. “I know we’re better than that. It’s frustrating because you know what product should be playing and then you see what was out there today. We started late on defense with any kind of effort. At the end, we started picking up the defense and proved that once we did that we were fine. “It’s tough,” the Comets’ coach continued. “We’re trying to make plays and certain guys are out of position. We’ve got to go back and really drill all of that stuff.” Wojtecki said that in terms of the fundamentals and technique, the team is not where it should be at this point. “Realistically, we’re not halfway where we need to be right now,” he pointed out. “Assignment-wise we were not very crisp on what we were doing. When it came down to technique, the technique was alright, but it has got to be better when we face better competition.”