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As the summer nears its end and the football season approaches, Morristown West got their first look in full pads against an opposing team when Science Hill made the trip to Burke-Toney for an 11-on-11 scrimmage last Friday.

While the team still has a ways to go before their season gets started with the Citizen Tribune Kickoff Classic on August 18, head coach Alvin Sanders viewed the scrimmage as a good opportunity to get some work in.

“It’s still early, we just want to come out here and practice. We’re talking about a week in pads, saw a lot of great things, saw a lot of things we need to work on, but all in all we came out here and we got better in some areas.”

As far as performance on the field was concerned in Friday’s face-off with the Hilltoppers, the defense stood pat in the early going, but the offense is still more of a work in progress.

“It’s always good to go against somebody else and get it on film so our kids can see where we’re at, “ Sanders said. “The goal is not to be state championship ready today, we’ve still got some time, but I’m extremely pleased with our effort. We’ve got to work on our execution and getting on and off the field. Our defense did a great job early, we forced quite a few three and outs. Offensively though, we need to get drives moving. Like I said, it’s still early. We’re missing a lot of pieces, once we get everybody here and healthy I think we’re going to be okay.”

Science Hill faced them with nine men in the box for a majority of the scrimmage, and as play went on the Trojans started to play around with pre-snap motion to try to force different alignments. With standout running back Tison Johnson having graduated last year, West’s strengths on offense this year lay in different areas.

“That’s just what happened with the way they were playing us,” said Sanders when asked about the pre-snap motion. “We were trying to free some guys up and get some different looks. It’s no secret, I feel like the strength of our offense this year is our wide receivers, so we’ve got to find ways to get those guys the ball. Especially facing a look like we got tonight where we got nine guys in the box, so we’ve got to get it outside. We primarily did it with our young guys, trying to free them up a little bit.”

With senior quarterback Malakhi Isom sidelined by injury, TJ Walthall got the start on Friday. In a big moment against stiff competition, Sanders was pleased with the sophomore’s performance given the circumstances.

“First time out, a lot of nerves, I was actually pleased with him,” Sanders said. “He made some throws, he’s grown up tremendously since last year’s JV season and that’s what I want to see. I want to see growth… That’s a tough situation to come into. Science Hill is going to compete for that conference title, and for him to come out and play well early, I’m pleased with him.”

There’s still work to be done in the leadup to the first kickoff on August 18, but Sanders is bullish on where his team is at right now.

“All in all, it was great practice. I appreciate coach Carter and his staff coming out and giving us some work today.”