It became apparent midway through Great Bend High School’s first controlled football scrimmage on Saturday morning: the intensity was lacking.
As it turned out, none other than an unsung group of freshman Panthers defenders helped ratchet things up a bit.
“The first comment that I made when I was walking off the field,” said Panthers head coach Bo Black, “was if you took one thing away from our scrimmage, our freshman team can play.
“We had them out there against our No. 1 junior-varsity offense and defense. I think the freshmen out there sparked the entire scrimmage. They got after it against our JV kids. I wish our varsity would have had that kind of enthusiasm.”
After enduring two-a-day drills all during the first week of school, the Panthers finally got to partake in some live hitting in game-like situations on Saturday.
“As a whole, I can never, ever remember being happy with an end-of-the week practice,” said Black, who is entering his 13th season at the helm, amassing an overall record of 78-42 during that stretch. “It was practice No. 11 in six days (on Saturday).
“We have a long way to go, a lot of spots to fill and a lot of question marks in a lot of places. They didn’t get answered (on Saturday).”
The Panthers, who are coming off a 5-4 season, open their season on Friday, Sept. 6, entertaining Hoisington in non-conference action.
“There were some good things and bad things, just like every early-year scrimmage that you have,” Black said. “We’re trying to find the things that need the most work on.
“We’re looking at personnel, going through film and grading, and taking a real hard look at the positions that are open. All in all, we walked away knowing we have a lot of work to be done.”
The likes of GBHS junior  two-way tackle Jayce Brack, linebacker/quarterback Shade Wondra and strong safety/wideout Greg Burley sat out Saturday’s scrimmage with minor bumps and bruises, according to Black.
“The thing about these three kids is that we know they can play,” Black said. “Those are three defensive starters, and we didn’t want to take a chance when we have our first game is in less than two weeks.”