EDGEWOOD - That good ol’ East Texas sun certainly did not cut anybody any slack, later on in the three-way scrimmage last Saturday night at Bulldog Stadium. You could start to see it players taking knees and hitting the water heavy in the first outing for both teams.

However before running low on fumes, the Bullard Panthers showed more spunk in one scrimmage than this reporter saw all season in 2009.

Adding up the scores, it was not a scoring exhibition. Bullard, Edgewood, and Quinlan-Ford swapped out in the regular 20-play scrimmage format without serious injury.

Against Edgewood, the Panthers won the scrimmage 1-0, as Kirk Bryant capped off a 12 play drive with a four-yard plunge.

Earlier in the drive Bryant boot-legged for 20-yards, and Hunter Skelton hauled in a Bryant strike for an 18-yard gain.

Quinlan-Ford then tested the Bullard defense and the Panthers had two breakdowns that cost them scores.

At top left, the Bullard Panthers offense gets together to toalk after their set of 20-plays against Edgewood in the three-way scrimmage last Saturday night. Above right, running back, Corbin Howard finds some room to run up the middle against Quinlan-Ford on Saturday. Above left, running back D.J. Diduch runs through one takle of an Edgewood Bulldog as the Panthers took it to the Bulldogs n the scrimmage last Staurday. Bullard battled back to drive deep in QF territory but could not cross the goal.

After shutting down the Edgewood defense, Bullard held a 1-0 lead on the Bulldogs, and suffered a 0-2 setback to Quinland-Ford (which by the way was a 4A school last year), in the scrimmages.

“We can definitely improve on the things we control, like how hard we play every play and mental / physical toughness,” said new head coach Shannon Wilson. “I thought our kids handled some adverse situations well, they saw one offense and defense that was new to them.

After the scrimmage format, Edgewood and the Panthers put 12-minutes on the clock and ran a game-situation period, complete with kicking (without a rush or return).

The heat began to take it’s toll as Edgewood ran in several substitutions, and racked up a 13-0 win in the quarter.

“Our offensive line had times in which they were very physical and made some room for our backs,” Wilson continued, “And Kirk Bryant showed some good things in the passing and option game.

There were other highlights as Will Coleman forced and recovered a fumble in the scrimmage, Houston Alexander made some huge runs from the backfield, and Huner Skelton was still big-hearted on bothe sides of the ball with three receptions and seven tackles.

Above right, hidden underneath aking an outstanding solo tacklke is linebacker, J.P Hendrix for the Panthers against the Bulldogs. The Panthers play at White Oak on Thursday night in their final tune up before the seasonopener at Panther Stadium on Aug. 27 at 7:30 p.m. (Banner Staff Photos by Doc Smth) The youthful Panthers showed their age a few times but with the influence on the field from all the coaches was a contagious learning experience that no practice can ever give a player.

Compared to last year……..although they may have come up short IF you keep score at a scrimmage.

Overall, it was a great day in Bullard football. The energy from the Panther coaching staff just feeds right down to the players and you could see the Panthers having fun and playing with pride. Something unseen for many years in Pantherland.

“We made a bunch of easily correctible mistakes that we can improve on, and individually there were some keys played that stuck out after film review,” Wilson cited out a few stalwarts.

“Vinny Cottingham was a key to leading to some good things on the offensive line,” Wilson added, “but Alec James had the big hit of the night on a receiver.

Converted offensive lineman, D.J. Diduch continues to impress and made some key plays at linebacker and running back according to Wilson.

“We look forward to making improvements in all phases this week in preparation for our opening game,” Wilson concluded, “and we really think that we are a long way from our potential which is encouraging, in which we should be able to improve every week.”

The junior varsity teams fought it out to deadlocks with both Edgewood and Quinland-Ford.

The Bullard freshmen however won 6-0 as quarterback Hunter Landrum threw a perfect strike to Dylan White who legged out the 60-yard score.T

he Panthers will put it on the line again this Thursday night in a scrimmage at White Oak, scheduled for the varsity to play around 7 p.m to 7:30 p.m.

The next wek is the season opener as the Panthers entertain Quitman for the ‘real deal’ opener.

Also on opening night, the Bullard Youth Football Association will be in attnedance and recognized before the game.