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Greenville
football coach Aaron Schaffer watches as his Wave football team goes
head to head
with Coldwater Friday. CNO Photos by George Starks
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Wave gets best
in scrimmage opponent
By George Starks
GREENVILLE- With two weeks left before the start of the 2012 football
season, Greenville Coach Aaron Schaffer got a good idea what his team
will bring to the table during the upcoming season.
One of the best teams, if not the best, in the MAC, Coldwater, invaded
Greenville Friday for some scrimmage time and it gave Schaffer a good
idea where his team is at with opening night right around the corner.
“Coldwater is a state quality team and one of the best in Ohio,” said
Schaffer. “If you want to know how good your team is, scrimmage a team
like Coldwater and you’ll find out quickly. I have nothing but respect
for Coach Otte and his program. He built that program up and is
established and they march 85 kids out on the field.”
While the Cavs brought a lot to the scrimmage and gave the Wave a stiff
test, Greenville gave Coldwater something to think about after they
departed. The Wave had some shining moments on both sides of the ball
and laid out some hard licks in the process.
“There were some good things and some bad things out there today and
that’s what scrimmages are for,” Schaffer admitted. “There’s no doubt
this is a state caliber team and with that being said, we are going to
face some state caliber teams during the season. Teams like Trotwood
and Centerville are state type of teams. Piqua has been to the state
and knows what it’s about. So there are three state quality programs
and we have good football teams on our schedule. Today was a good test
for our kids and it’s something they can grow and learn from when we
watch the films.”
In a recent scrimmage, quarterback Zack Comer hurt a finger that may
have affected his performance against Coldwater.
“I thought Comer played well,” Schaffer said. “The finger might have
affected him a little but he was out there running around and he made
some good strong throws. We need to get better on the offensive line
but opening night is two weeks away so we have time to work on these
things. The blocking schemes are different than what they’ve been use
to in the past but I think we’ve taken a nice big step from Tuesday to
Friday on the offensive side of the board. We had some good goal line
sets and that was a big positive for us. We started on the 10 and were
able to move forward. We had the one bad play in the second set of five
but we scored twice in the first set of five. We were able to push the
ball and open up some holes. I was pleased with some of the down and
distance stuff. We had a nice jet sweep and had a couple of nice runs
inside.
“On defense, I thought we made some nice plays,” Schaffer continued.
“Coldwater will spread you out and show you four or five receivers on
the same play. They took advantage of some holes but we did make some
good plays defensively.”
On special teams, Schaffer knows much work is needed.
“We have to improve in the kicking game,” Schaffer said. “That’s a huge
part of our game. I felt good about the way Havier Bixler kicked the
ball today. I thought we were protecting well and didn’t have any major
breakdowns. We had a lot of positives. I though we had a lot of
positive motivation as well out there. The kids came out and were ready
to play.”
Greenville will next scrimmage Van Wert On Friday, August 24 at 7 p.m.
at Harmon Field.
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The
Greenville defense was able to smother a Coldwater runner on this play.
The Wave
will rely on their defense to open up the offense.
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Greenville
junior Ryan Drew goes high to catch a touchdown pass from quarterback
Zack Comer.
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Wave
quarterback Zack Comer looks for a running lane after being flushed
out of the pocket by the Coldwater defense.
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