'Work to do'

Coaches for Reeltown, Dadeville expect teams to improve in second week of practice

Dusty Harper

Published Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The Dadeville Tigers and Reeltown Rebels are inching closer to their season-opening clash at the end of the month. Both head coaches agree that their respective squads are improving, but still aren’t set for kickoff.

Dadeville head coach Richard White was upbeat after his team’s first scrimmage Saturday.

“We got better,” White said. “Obviously, we have some kinks to work out, but that’s normal.”

White’s biggest reason for optimism was his team’s effort in the Saturday morning workout.

“We had a bunch of kids hustling, jumping around and diving for balls, and that’s something we haven’t had in a couple of years,” White said.

Reeltown front man Jackie O’Neal had no major issues with his team’s first few practices.

“We had a good week of practice,” O’Neal said. “But, we still have a long way to go before we are ready for our first game.”

Both coaches acknowledged that their players need some work mastering the playbooks.

“Our guys didn’t always know who to bock,” White said. “We need to get better in protection against the different defensive fronts we’re going to face.”

White also said his offense needed to improve its timing.

O’Neal said his team would work more on its game plan for both sides of the ball soon.

“We are going to continue installing some of our special teams this week and begin fine tuning some of our offensive and defensive schemes,” O’Neal said.

The Tigers and Rebels face one another sto start the season, meeting in Dadeville Thursday, Aug. 28.