Friday, August 23, 1996

AHS, CHS coaches pleased with football workouts

By LANCE FLEMING
Staff Writer

Both head coaches say it's still too early to put a perspective on things, but Cooper's Randy Allen and Abilene High's Steve Warren both say they're pleased with their teams after one week of workouts.

The cross-town rivals and members of District 4-5A will conclude their first week in pads this weekend with a pair of intrasquad scrimmages at Shotwell Stadium.

At Cooper, the Cougars are trying to get themselves ready to make a push at earning a fifth consecutive playoff berth. The Cougars are armed with seven returning starters, but just one on the defensive side of the ball.

However, even after four days in pads, Allen said its too soon to tell anything about this year's squad.

"We've been working hard, but it's still too early to get a good perspective on it," he said. "We've really only gone live five minutes per day. But we think we're making strides each day."

The Cougars will participate in the second annual Pigskin Preview on Saturday at Shotwell Stadium.

There will be intrasquad scrimmages between seventh and eighth graders from Clack, Madison and Jefferson middle schools starting at 5 p.m., followed by the Cooper sophomore and junior varsity teams from 6-7 p.m.

The Cougar volleyball, tennis and cross country teams will be introduced along with the band and spirit squads between 7 and 7:45 p.m. The varsity will be introduced after that and will scrimmage until 9 p.m.

At Abilene High, Warren is putting his Eagles through their paces as they try to take advantage of the largest number of returning starters in the district. The Eagles have 14 returning starters, but Warren said some of those guys are being pushed after just four days in pads.

"We're not sold on anybody yet," said Warren, Abilene High's first-year head coach. "We've got good competition going at a lot of positions. We might have some returning starters who get bumped out of their spots by new guys, and I think that competition is good for us."

The Eagles will participate in the Eagle Extravaganza tonight at Shotwell Stadium.

The festivities will kick off at 5 p.m. with scrimmages between the seventh and eighth graders at Lincoln, Mann and Franklin middle schools. When those are finished, the freshmen will hit the field at 6:30 p.m., followed by the junior varsity at 7 p.m.

The varsity will then scrimmage at 8 p.m.

Aside from the scrimmages, teams in all of the other fall sports will be introduced.