2018 Spring Camp ends with two great games

​We had a pair of FANTASTIC games to end the 2018 Spring Camp. The players really appreciated the great turnout to watch them play. Thank you all that attended to see our players battle a great Carson Graham program. The program is really looking forward to the fall regular season.
 
Junior Varsity
Junior Varsity Head Coach Cam Curries was very proud of the way the team battled today. The team had some good moments that showed the potential of this team, but we also saw some areas to target for improvement.
 
The JV Highlanders took the ball to start the game in hopes of setting the tone. The offensive line and running backs did well to set that tone early as the team grinded their way downfield and ran the ball with purpose.
 
In the 3rd quarter Coach Currie decided the team should work our passing game and balance out the attack and give the running backs a bit of a break as they had done a great job in the first half.
Coach Currie noted it was a pleasant site seeing Johnny Corbett confidently throw the ball around and involve many of our receivers in the pass game. As the team moved downfield, a big pass play from Corbett to Hursthouse set us up in the red zone. Once within striking position the team capitalized with a great play resulting in a Haldane receiving TD.
 
Defensively we also had moments that coaches were very happy with. An early forced fumble by App resulted in a Bindley recovery giving the boys a much-needed boost of confidence. Late in the game the team stood strong with a big red-zone stop which showed us that the team has the potential to dig in their heels and protect our end-zone.
 
As was the case with every spring case, the players willingness to tackle, wrap-up and play with physicality wanders at time. This is expected for those that are learning to tackle correctly and play against real opposition and not teammates in practice. We need to remember many of our players were playing in their first ever football game, against a strong, experienced Carson Graham squad.
 
Coach Currie summed up the spring camp by saying that the team had issues with attendance throughout which created challenges and hindered our development as a complete squad. As a team they worked hard for two weeks and made a lot of progress. The players need to improve their tackling and physicality, but again this will come with practice and experience as we move forward in the fall.
 
Coach Currie and the other coaches were very proud of the team and the players should be proud of the effort they demonstrated as well. The Coaches are looking forward to building on this experience in the fall and have a successful regular season.
 
Varsity
The Varsity Highlanders showed a lot of promise today according to Head Coach Pooya Dourandish. The team played against a talented and deep Carson Graham team. The Varsity team showed that they can go toe to toe and match a punch for punch on offence. The offence and defense had great moments of execution, but more importantly the players came together as a team and focused on lifting each other up.
 
The coaches have multiple reasons for optimism, on defense we were flying around and making big stops against a high-powered offence. Offensively we sustained long drives and had explosive plays. Unfortunately, Coach Dourandish noted that the team left a lot of points out on the field but those are lessons the team needs to learn about preparation and execution.
 
From what Coach Dourandish and the other coaches saw in our spring game, the players and coaches have tons to look forward to for the fall season. This team seems to have gelled as a unit over the last two weeks and with a total buy-in to our goal of playing in the post season at BC place.
 
Coach Dourandish can only imagine what the outcome of the spring game could have been if the Varsity team didn’t have a bad training camp heading into it. Out of 9 practice days I believe we wasted 4.5 of them. Attendance and attitude are required components for proper execution and success.
 
Coach Dourandish is proud of our players for fighting from start to finish. There was not a drive on offence where the coaches didn’t believe the team were going to score and not a drive on defense where we didn’t think we could stop them. More importantly Coach Dourandish is very proud of the leaders emerged today and noted that having a controlling voice in a huddle can go a very long way for a team. The coaches are very excited to see how we can build off our success and learn from our mistakes from the game and spring camp. Coming into the game the team played with a limited offensive and defensive scheme to keep it simple. In the fall we should be able to expand the playbook and really show the league what we can do.

​Pride ~ Respect ~ United