An explosive offense and speedy defense is what the Dripping Springs Tiger football team showcased in Saturday’s full-contact inter-squad scrimmage, which closed the first week of fall camp.
With a full week of practice in the books, Tiger head coach Galen Zimmerman said he likes what he’s seen so far from his team as they march toward their Aug. 31 opener on the road at Kerrville Tivy.
“I felt like after one week of practice and one day of true pads there is a lot of positives on both sides, and things that we can definitely build on,” Zimmerman said. “The things that are out there that we need to fix are definitely fixable. I think there is a lot of excitement about this year and there should be.”
“I felt like after one week of practice and one day of true pads there is a lot of positives on both sides, and things that we can definitely build on. The things that are out there that we need to fix are definitely fixable. I think there is a lot of excitement about this year and there should be.”
–Galen Zimmerman, Tiger Football Head Coach
While the Tigers are still ironing out the fine details of positioning and technique, Zimmerman applauded his team on their work ethic and playing hard on every snap. Having a team full of players who go full speed every play allows Zimmerman and his coaching staff to focus on teaching the finer details in practice.
“We’ve got a lot of kids that play hard, extremely hard and want to be good,” Zimmerman said. “Want to please their teammates, and their coaches and their parents. I feel like we have a lot of guys that you don’t have to really pride along and get them to work hard, they are going to work hard. So I feel like that’s kind of our strength right now.”
A point of emphasis for both the offense and defense through fall camp has been preventing pre-snap penalties, limiting dropped passes, while also winning the turnover battle and getting more sacks than allowing them.
Zimmerman said those four categories are some of the biggest game changers on Friday nights.
“We’ve got the ability to make big plays, but we’ve got to eliminate the negatives,” said Zimmerman.
During the scrimmage, the offense displayed its explosive play potential with multiple touchdowns of over 50 yards.
The Tigers return some fire power with senior quarterback Zach Tjelmeland, senior running back Curtis Cox, along with senior Kevin Kelly and junior Jack Masters in the trenches of the offensive line. Junior Cameron O’banan, who is seeing time at both wide receiver and quarterback, and junior wide receiver PJ Howe were players who have stepped up on the field and in a leadership role, Zimmerman said.
On defense, the Tigers return a couple key players from last year’s squad. Senior linebackers Jakob Joy and Hunter Northrup, senior nose guard Colby Collins, and junior defensive back Austin Hulon will provide leadership and playmaking ability on that side of the ball this season.
For Zimmerman and the Tigers, the expectation every season is to make the playoffs, and that is no different this season. Dripping Springs will have one last tune-up in an Aug. 23 scrimmage against New Braunfels before it hits the ground running.
“We start school (this week) and scrimmage New Braunfels on Friday, kind of see where we are with somebody else with a 6A program that’s pretty good,” Zimmerman said. “So we will be tested and that will be good to see.”
The Tigers travel to Kerrville Tivy Aug. 30 at 7:30 p.m. Dripping Springs hosts Hays Sept. 7 at 7:30 p.m. for its home opener.
