Vandals Prepare For Opening Scrimmage Against Winnsboro

After nearly two weeks of two-a-day workouts among themselves, the Van Vandals are more than ready to take what they have learned and see where they stand against a different opponent.

They will have that opportunity Saturday morning when they host the Winnsboro Red Raiders in the first of two pre-season scrimmages at the new Vandal Memorial Stadium.

The freshmen and the junior varsity will begin their scrimmage at 9 a.m. Saturday followed by the varsity scrimmage at approximately 10:30 a.m.

The format for the varsity scrimmage will include a series of 15 plays by each team followed by a 10-play series before concluding with another 10-play series.

Winnsboro qualified for the 2008 Class 3-A state playoffs with a senior dominated team.

"They lost a lot of players from last season but one thing you can always say about Winnsboro is that they will put a quality team on the football field," emphasized Vandal head coach Brady Pennington.

Offensively, the Red Raiders are a run oriented team featuring lots of option plays while defensively, they will run a 4-2 alignment.

"They are a very physical football team," added Pennington.

The Vandals were to begin preparations for the Winnsboro scrimmage Wednesday (August 12).

"We will take a look at the video from our scrimmage with them last season to look at formations but so far as actual game-planning is concerned, we will not do as much of that for this scrimmage like we would for a regular season game," pointed out the Vandal head coach. "Right now, we need to take a look at where we are both offensively and defensively against another opponent."

Pennington said that the two-a-day practices have been going well so far.

"Things have been going pretty smooth," said Pennington. "I have been pleased with the conditioning of our team."

The Vandal head coach said that there have been no major injuries during two-a-days.

"Our young offensive line has been working hard learning our power and our spread offenses," pointed out the Vandal head coach. "They have been put in a position to learn two different offenses and they are doing a good job. The attitude and work ethic of our entire team has been impressive to me."

Pennington said he is anxious to see how his team will perform in their first scrimmage.

"I really like our team and I believe that we have the opportunity to have a pretty good football team before this season is over," pointed out the Vandal head coach.

After the Winnsboro scrimmage, the Vandals will host the Troup Tigers Thursday, August 20 in their final pre-season scrimmage.

Van will open the 2009 regular season at home Thursday, August 27 against their Van Zandt County rival, the Grand Saline Indians, in a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.