Final scrimmage has the Jays ready for week one

The Guthrie BlueJays traveled to Piedmont Thursday evening for their final scrimmage and tune up for the start of the high school football season.

Both the offense and defense worked out with 28 plays. The freshmen and junior varsity took a good amount of snaps in their final scrimmage.

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The Guthrie offense scored on four different plays and just missed out on the fifth score, that was called back due to a holding penalty. Meanwhile, the defense proved to be tough again despite allowing a touchdown score.

The BlueJays, whom most polls have ranked in the top three, stayed balance offensively with two rushing and two passing scores.

Junior quarterback Bryan Dutton was in on three of the four scores, including a 55-yard score to end the night for the offense. Perhaps the highlight of the play came 30-yards down the field when left tackle Blake Belcher provided the last big block to free Dutton.

The first score of the night came back due to a holding penalty, but senior Luke Davis was able to hit the edge and dart into the end zone.

The first score that would have counted on the scoreboard came when Dutton found senior Clint Simek for a 50-yard pass and catch. Simek, a move in from Prague last season, was applauded by his coaches for a good scrimmage as he continues to learn the speed of the game in the larger class.

Guthrie’s next score came from the legs of running back J.T. McFadden when he squirted by the Wildcat defense down the boundary and flew in for the score.

Dutton and the offense countered the running game with another pass and catch for a score. This time Dutton connected on a 60-yard pass with sophomore Donovan Jordan. Jordan finished the scrimmage with an interception on defense.

Piedmont showed they will continue to throw the football season behind quarterback Cole Davis, who threw for 1776 yards and 17 scores a season ago. The Guthrie defense had numerous reps against the pass and held up their end of the deal.

The Wildcats were tamed for the majority of the scrimmage, but did manage a score with a 15-yard fade pass in a goal line situation. Each team took 24 offensive snaps with two 12-play series and ended the night with a four play goal line scenario.

Guthrie will watch film on Friday and take the weekend off before they return Monday and prepare for the Duncan Demons. Duncan finished last season with a 6-5 record including a 25-0 loss in Guthrie.