What was supposed to be an intersquad scrimmage for the Emporia High football team turned into nothing but a washout Friday night.
While the Spartans did get about an hour of practice in, the lightening that began to slice across the skies over Welch Stadium at about 8 p.m., was more than the EHS coaches and administrators wanted to deal with, and so the practice was postponed with many of the EHS players receiving little to no playing time.
For the EHS coaches, the rainout was disappointing, as it was a missed opportunity to get players on film for evaluations before the season begins next Friday against Blue Valley West.
“We didn’t get a lot done,” coach Bill Lowe said. “There were a lot of players that didn’t get to play any snaps, and that’s not good because we wanted to get everyone on film so we could evaluate them all and give everyone a fair shot before we get started next week.”
One player that didn’t get any scrimmage time was sophomore Taylor Euler, who is competing for the starting quarterback job with senior Eric Wells and junior Michael Knight.
Just as Taylor and the first-team offense were lining up on the field to take their first snaps together as a complete unit, that’s when the rain and lightening show began, forcing the team into the locker rooms for about 30 minutes until the scrimmage was officially called off.
“Man, that was extremely disappointing,” Euler said. “I didn’t even get to take one snap. We were all ready too. When we came out of the locker room for warmups, everybody was real pumped up, and I kind of got chills.
“It was a big letdown that we didn’t get as much done tonight as we wanted to.”
With what little practice that did take place, several players used the time to make a case for playing time this season.
Wells led the offense — which was made up of mostly first-teamers — on a lengthy drive that resulted in a 10-yard touchdown run by sophomore Justin Krause against the backup defense.
Senior running back Clint Drake also busted out several nice runs and showed a good ability to stay on his feet after the first hit.
The EHS first-team defense, while it only played as an entire unit for five plays, looked solid.
In those five plays, the Spartan defense got a three-and-out, sacked Knight for a 5-yard loss and forced a fumble that was recovered by the offense.
While Friday’s scrimmage was cut short, Lowe and the Spartans got in an early scrimmage again at 8:30 this morning.
“All we can hope for is that Blue Valley West didn’t get to practice either,” Lowe said. “Hopefully it was raining up in Kansas City too.”