News you can use

Lights prepare for first scrum

Havre Daily News/Daniel Horton

Montana State University-Northern wide receiver Brandon O'Brien cools off during a Lights' practice Wednesday night in Havre. The Lights have been practicing in near 100 degree temperatures all week, and will hold their first scrimmage of the fall on Saturday morning.

The Montana State University-Northern football team has been fighting the heat during its first week of fall camp.

But the Lights will look to ignore the hot conditions and create some heat of their own on Saturday when they conduct their first contact scrimmage of 2012.

Northern will hold the scrimmage at 9:45 a.m. Saturday at the MSU-N practice fields.

And just a little more than two weeks away from their season-opening game with Carroll College, the Lights and veteran head coach Mark Samson are looking to get plenty of the scrum.

Northern began fall drills last Sunday and have been working through two-a-days in some pretty extreme heat.

But with an earlier-than-usual season-opening game, the Lights can't afford to slow down as they continue to install offenses, defenses, coordinate special teams and build their depth chart, all which must be done before kickoff on Friday, Aug. 24, when the second-ranked Saints roll into Havre.

Fortunately, Northern returns a host of veteran players on both sides of the ball, and they've looked sharp so far in practice. On offense, leaders like quarterback Derek Lear, running back Stephen Silva and all of their wide receivers have been particularly strong so far, and overall, Samson said all 90 players reported for camp in excellent physical condition.

The scrimmage, though, will certainly test the Lights as it will be pretty much live and full contact. Northern won't have the services of veteran backup quarterback Travis Dean, who hasn't been cleared for contact after tearing a knee in spring ball last April, but, overall, the Lights are navigating their first week of practice with a pretty healthy squad.

Saturday's scrimmage is set for 9:45 a.m. on the MSU-N campus. Northern will scrimmage again next week as well.

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 
Rendered 03/02/2024 19:29