Arlington football vets strengths and weaknesses in scrimmage

BELLINGHAM — After a summer of lifting and two days of football camp, the Arlington football team was more than ready to take the field against Bellingham.

BELLINGHAM — After a summer of lifting and two days of football camp, the Arlington football team was more than ready to take the field against Bellingham.

Even if it was just a scrimmage.

The boys traveled to Bellingham July 30 to face the Red Raiders at Civic Stadium, giving the Arlington players an opportunity to apply the plays they were honing in the team camp that ran July 28-31.

With last year’s starting quarterback Jake Parduhn sidelined by injury but observing the game, first-year head coach Greg Dailer had about a half dozen different players taking snaps from behind center.

Arlington appeared to be focusing on the basics, largely leaving reverses and trick plays to the Red Raiders. The teams alternated on offense and defense, trading possession of the ball every 10 snaps.

The Eagles mixed up their looks on offense, providing the Bellingham defense with a healthy combination of runs, passes and quarterback keepers. Offensively, senior Chris Myers threw for one touchdown and ran for another against Bellingham, while receivers Dylan Lindberg and Jonathon Shell each caught a pass in the end zone.

Defensively, Arlington had at least one pick as Brandon Pierce came down with an interception early in the scrimmage.

About midway through the game, Arlington started tracking its offensive drives to see how they were lining up on fourth downs. By coach Dailer’s count, the team would have converted all their drives by the fourth down.

“I thought it went well,” he added after the scrimmage. “We showed a lot of signs of doing well and a lot of things to work on.”

The guys took the tape of the game back to camp to evaluate their performances. However, much of the tweaking will have to wait until the team’s official practice begins Aug. 20 because Aug. 1 marks the beginning of the WIAA-mandated no-contact period by coaches.