By JIM STEELE
mckenzierebels.com

Friday afternoon, McKenzie football coach Wade Comer reminded his Rebels after their scrimmage against Class 3A perennial contender Crockett County that they were beaten 9-1 by Camden a year ago.

Believe it or not, McKenzie did get a little better, good enough to be crowned Class A state runner up.

Friday, the McKenzie and Crockett County vasristy units tied 2-2 and Bethel's Wildcat Stadium.

"Last year, we got beat 9-1, today our varsity teams went two and two," said Comer. "That's better, but we're not where we want to be."

Point in fact, the Rebels didn't look bad at all. But the facts are these: The Rebels are looking for interior linemen on both sides of the ball; they are looking for a quarterback; they are learning a new offensive system; missing from the scrimmage were Tyler Watson (undisclosed ailment), Jake Johnson (illness) and Andrew Doster (shoulder injury). Yet, the Rebels played pretty well on defense and moved the ball on the ground very effectively.

Given all that, Comer said he was pleased with what the Rebels did. He was looking for help up front and he, for the most part, got it. He was hoping for solid play at quarterback. The Rebels were close. Defensively, he hoped his stoppers would step up. For the most part they did.

"We played seven guys up front, rotating them in and out," Comer said. "They didn't do too bad and it's all new to them - new blocking schemes, new plays and we did a lot better than I thought we would and I was pleased with that."

McKenzie ran the ball very well and with Johnson out, Jacob Fussell and Quinton Bowden got the lion's share of the action.

"Fussell played well, ran well and played defense very well," said Comer. "Bowden looked good and ran the ball well, too."

Both runners were able to break loose for touchdowns. Meanwhile, the quarterbacks were focused on the running game and ran the option pretty well. But they only threw the ball a handful of times.

"We haven't even gotten to the passing game yet this spring. We haven't even worked on it," Comer said. "But I thought Austin McKinney ran well and looked good. Arnold looked good at times. I'm pleased with where we are at."

Evan Rogers, who will be a junior, had a monster day coming off the edge, securing three sacks and some pretty thunderous hits.

"Rogers played excellent," said an animated Comer. "But he's a starter and we expect him to."

After missing last year, Zach English returned and shook off a bit of rust to perform pretty well.

"We put him at outside linebacker and he did a good job learning a new position," said Comer. "He came back and made a few plays."

Comer said the emphasis next week when Dyer County comes to town Tuesday. Kickoff for that scrimmage is yet to be determined. It is likely that the scrimmage will again take place at Bethel College, weather permitting.

"We looked a lot better defensively and offensively I thought we did a pretty good job," said Comer. "We need to finish up our blocks and we have to make some adjustments."

But even for the veterans, everything is new.

"Even for the guys who have been here, it's a whole new offense and they have been learning new techniques," said the coach. "We came out and did pretty well, but we have a long way to go. We'll see how much we improve when we play Dyer County."

McKenzie's second unit outscored Crockett County 2-1. Austin Taylor had some big runs in the understudies battle.