Northlake Christian School second-year coach Rowland Skinner said the scrimmage recently held at William Pitcher Junior High was very positive for each of the three squads.

“It was a good experience for all three of us,” Skinner said. “Hannan and Pine were well coached. We had two other good teams competing.”

Skinner said his club has a lot of new players out there getting their feet wet.

Archbishop Hannan senior running back Adam Lewis heads up field in last Thursday'€™s scrimmage making a move against a couple of Pine Raiders. Hannan participated in the Northlake Christian School Wolverines scrimmage held at William Pitcher Junior High. (Photo by Mike McCall)

“They picked up some valuable experience. We made a lot of mistakes, but that is what scrimmages are for,” Skinner added.

Skinner said his club is focused on correcting its mistakes this week. The Wolverines will participate in the St. Martin’s Jamboree Friday going against the Ben Franklin Falcons at 6:30 p.m.

Skinner said his club moved the ball well during the scrimmage, but shot itself in the foot with a couple of turnovers. The Wolverines’ offense fumbled against Hannan and threw an interception against Pine.

“We also had some penalties that would have stalled drives in regular season play. We have to avoid making those kinds of mistakes. Our offense was a little inconsistent. We did some very good things, but at points we didn’t execute very well,” Skinner said.

Skinner said offensively sophomore wingback Derek Williams did a good job running the ball.

“Derek ran the ball hard, hitting the hole. He showed some excellent vision, making a couple of nice cutback moves in the open field,” Skinner said.

Williams is one of four starters who will go both ways this season, lining up at safety in the Wolverines’ secondary.

Skinner said for the most part, the offensive line did a good job, highlighting the play of junior right guard Ryan Pfefferle and sophomore center Cole Shorter.

“We tried to balance things on offense wanting to see certain players in specific situations,” Skinner said.

Defensively, Skinner said his team played with lots of energy.

He said the secondary played well as a group.

He praised the play of senior cornerback Will Werner, who made a couple of nice open field tackles.

“Will brings a good presence about him in the secondary. He is a solid athlete who is a tough nosed player. He’s a guy you can count on,” he said.

Sophomore Tyler Clark played linebacker and also saw time on the defensive line.

“Tyler did a good job pursuing. He filled the hole from his linebacker position. He is a relentless player. His football smarts allows us to use him in a number of positions on defense,” Skinner added. Clark also starts at fullback for the Wolverines.

NCS senior Alex Reed turned in a strong performance at defensive end. He also saw time at wide receiver.

Offensive and defensive linemen from each of the three schools squared off for 30 minutes working on pass rush drills. On the opposite end of the field, 7-on-7 competition took place.

Archbishop Hannan’s Hawks opened the scrimmage moving the ball against the Pine Raiders. Second-year coach George Templet said his team looked good on its first drive.

Junior quartertack Andrew Arceneaux hooked up with Cameron Becnel on a 10-yard pass for a score, finishing up a 10-play drive.

“We were pleased with that first drive. We pounded the ball with fullback Ethan Lopinto and tailback Adam Lewis. The line provided good blocking and our backs ran hard, picking up good yardage,” Templet said.

Templet said his club wasn’t a very good running team last year so it wanted to establish the running game.

The Hawks ran the ball eight times on the first drive with two passes. In addition to the touchdown pass, Arceneaux found wide receiver Logan Booksh for a 12-yard completion.

Templet said the entire offensive line did its job, holding their space allowing the Hawks to move the ball down field.

NCS’ No. 1 offense then lined up against Hannan.

The Wolverines moved the ball downfield to about the 20-yard line.

Hannan’s defense gave up one big pass play.

“We played hard on defense. Obviously, there are some corrections we have to make with specific assignments but overall I was pleased with their effort,” Templet said.

Pine’s offense then entered to go against the NCS defense.

Later in the scrimmage, Hannan’s offense retook the field, running its spread offense with Arceneaux taking all the snaps out of the shotgun against NCS.

“NCS has a pretty good defense. They did a good job of bringing defensive pressure blitzing up the middle. We didn’t work on any blitz package pickup during the week, but we will be able to make those corrections,” Templet said.

The last series was Pine’s offense running plays against Hannan’s defense.

Templet said he was pleased with the play of his offensive line and the way the Hawks were able to run the football.

“We are a more mature football team at this point than where we were last season. We had a phenomenal summer camp at Camp Ruth Lee in Clinton. That, coupled with our players having another year in our system, makes us a more mature football team,” Templet added.

Hannan will play in the Livonia Jamboree Friday night.

The Hawks will square off against Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School from Ajax, Ontario in Canada at 6 p.m.