Mother Nature halts Creston/O-M football scrimmage

DES MOINES — Mother Nature was not friendly to the Creston/Orient-Macksburg and Des Moines Roosevelt football teams Friday night at Drake Stadium. The two managed to get just a quarter of play in before the scrimmage was halted by bad weather around the stadium.

What is none-too out-of-the-ordinary for Roosevelt in playing at Drake Stadium, was actually a pretty exciting opportunity for the Panthers.

Despite playing just over a quarter in the varsity scrimmage while the junior varsity and freshmen only managed to warm up, disappointment didn't show up on the faces of the Panthers afterward.

The squad erupted in cheers as they went out to shake hands with the Roughriders, pleased with their 12-minute "victory."

And why not be cheerful? Football is back, and the Panthers got to spend a Friday night hitting someone else other than their teammates.

"It’s unfortunate for this, the kids were excited to be here to get at least get two quarters in and then get some situations in. That being said, we got a quarter in, we got some pregame in," Creston/O-M coach Brian Morrison said. "I thought we moved around a lot, I thought we executed on both sides of the ball, and even the special teams that we did we executed. That’s all you can ask for."

The Panthers got on the board the first possession of the game. Chase Shiltz lined up in the shotgun and plowed ahead to score the first unofficial points of the year for Creston/O-M. The first drive looked effortless for the Panthers, who plodded ahead behind the offensive line.

Morrison was pleased with the all-around play of the line on both sides of the ball.

“That’s going to be our strength this year,  and I think it has been our strength the last several years," Morrison said.

Kylan Smallwood threw an interception on Creston/O-M's second drive while targeting a receiver on a rollout toward the home sideline. The Panthers got the ball back a third time before lightning ended the scrimmage at the end of the first.

The defense provided a stiff barrier that the Roughriders hardly crossed. The front seven looked strong as the Panther linebackers played well in space and the big men up front negated any type of push for the Roosevelt offense.

Creston/O-M assistant coach Chad Briley, who played wide receiver and returned kicks and punts for Drake in the early 90's, said that this was probably his first time on field level in 15 years. He has seen three of his kids run at the Drake relays and at state track, but this was a different feeling for him. Not quite surreal, just different.

“It’s really different standing on that sideline versus the other one, the home sideline," Briley said.

Other than assisting the program for a few months after graduation, this was his first time at Drake Stadium as a coach on the field. He believes that even from the small sample size provided by Friday's scrimmage, he saw good things.

"It was just good for us to get out there and get some snaps under our belt, and for the plays we did get felt good about how things turned out," Briley said.

“I think it’s beneficial for us. I think the limited number of plays we did get, we got a lot more out of those than we did scrimmaging against ourselves," Briley added.

“You can actually cut loose and hit someone for once."

Just like he did 23 years ago. And just like the Panthers are rearing to do this Friday against Boone.