Guthrie wraps up first scrimmage with Douglass and Bishop Kelley

Head coach Kelly Beeby was pleased with the conditioning of his team, but says there is still some work to do following a three-way scrimmage with Bishop Kelley and Douglass.

“All in all we came out healthy and our conditioning seemed to be pretty good,” Beeby said in his post game radio interview. Listen to the complete radio interview.

The Comets and Trojans were able to each find the end zone against the Jays defense in a total of 12 snaps for each offense at Langston University’s Anderson Field.

The Trojans had three plays of 11-yards or more, including a 33-yard passing score on the 11th play. Douglass, who showed more of a passing game (3-6) from years past, also completed a 13-yard pass on the first play from scrimmage.

Guthrie safety Kelyn Hinds forced a fumble on the next to last play from Douglass as Jalyn Morgan pounced on the loose ball.

The BlueJay defense, again, allowed some big plays from Bishop Kelley, including three plays of at least 14 yards leading to a touchdown and two-point conversion.

Kelley started their 12-play scrimmage with runs up the middle of 14 and 15 yards. Three plays later the Comets connected for a 20-yard pass and catch inside the 10-yard line.

Kelley finished the scrimmage with three incomplete passes.

“Both Bishop Kelley and Douglass came out and were very physical with us, which we needed, and we got a lot of good things to teach off of in film on Monday,” Beeby said.

The Jays will be looking to replace the interior part of their defense following graduation from a year ago.

“We have to become more physical in the middle. Plain and simple we need to get better,” Beeby said.

Alexander and Curry highlight offense with big plays

The Jays are hopeful running back Idea Alexander can help carry the load offensively. On Friday night’s scrimmage, BlueJay fans saw the senior waste no time in eating up yards.

On the first play against Kelley, Alexander took off on the right side and showed off his speed and ability to run over players en route to a 22-yard run. He later added a 12-yard run to finish with 38 rushing yards, on five carries, and a touchdown run from two-yards.

Guthrie showed multiple quarterbacks with junior Zane Maltz taking majority of the snaps. Maltz showed the ability to run out of the pocket and down field. He was 1-3 passing with the lone completion finding junior Chance Whitt for a 12-yard pass.

Against Douglass, the Jays two biggest plays offensively came from senior L’liott Curry, who hauled in a 25 and 24 yard pass completions with each pass coming from Maltz.

“L’liott is a special kid, we know that,” offensive coordinator Scott Mick said. 

“Chance did a good job of catching the football.”

The running game was aided by Alexander and Hinds behind an offensive line that returns one starter and an offense that returns three players.

“We had one or two quarterback pressures that were not very good. It was not an effort deal, it was a scheme deal,” Mick said who also serves as the offensive line coach. Listen to the complete radio interview.

Guthrie will conclude the scrimmage portion of the season when they travel to El Reno on Thursday. The freshmen are scheduled to take the field at 6 p.m.