There were plenty of highlights from Friday night’s annual fall football scrimmage at Memorial Stadium for the Great Bend High School Panthers.
Here’s just a sampling:
• Senior quarterback Greg Hildebrand mixed a blend of the pass and the run in establishing and sustaining several scoring drives for the first-team offense.
• Senior wide receiver Alex Reed showed his breakaway speed in catching the deep ball on a long catch-and-run for a touchdown.
• Junior tailback Jeremy Siglar displayed some cat-quick moves, darting and dodging his way downfield for a 72-yard scoring run. He also rattled off nearly an 80-yard touchdown late.
Scoring wasn’t kept in the controlled scrimmage, and Great Bend head coach Bo Black said he came away pleased with a number of aspects.
“We’ve talked all week about having a great effort in practice, but something that has been lacking a little bit is some enthusiasm,” Black said. “We came out (Friday night) and bounced around pretty well and did a lot of good things. ... we still have a long ways to go.
“We’re right where we need to be this time of year. It’s time to get ready to play a game, there’s no doubt.”
That comes this Friday night, when the Panthers host St. Thomas Aquinas at 7 p.m. to kick off the 2010 season.
Black has come to expect big plays from Hildebrand, who returns for his second year as the starting QB.
“The thing about Greg is that he has grown so much as a football player in the leadership role,” Black said. “He’s really good.”
Ditto for Siglar and returning fullback Dakota Ellis, although Black said he will be expecting more from both as the duo makes up two-thirds of their returning linebacking corps, as well.
“On both sides of the ball,” Black said in reference.
Wideout Jace Bowman displayed his prowess as a posssesion receiver, and two other pass-catchers also caught Black’s eye.
“I was real happy with some big plays that Conner Sell and Logan Buehler made as our inside wide receivers,” Black said. “I thought both of those guys had a great scrimmage offensively.”
“(Buehler had an interception return and had a big catch over the middle deep.”
The junior varsity team had the task of playing the first-team offense and first-team defense. The freshman team also made an appearance.

SORRY, WE’RE CLOSED — Fans expecting to sit in the brand-spanking new grandstand on the west side of Memorial Stadium were probably disappointed to find out that the center portion of the seating has yet to be completed. Some work is also still being done on the press box. Thus, a vast majority of the fans sat on the east side.