The Copper Basin Cougars football team accomplished the two goals Head Coach Brett Graves set when the Cougars hosted the Tellico Plains Bears in a preseason scrimmage Friday night at Copper Basin.
Graves said he had wanted the team’s weaknesses to show up early, and to prepare for the following week’s scrimmage against the Andrews Wildcats.
Graves said Saturday that Tellico was “the biggest team we’ll face all year.”
Facing the Bears, many of the Cougars saw their first varsity action. Copper Basin fields only five seniors and three juniors. Early game problems for the Cougars came from “just being young,” Graves said.
But as the game progressed, things got better.
“We tackled a lot better than we did in the spring,” Graves said. He said AJ Pero in particular improved in this area, after having some “rough times this spring.”
“Overall, it went as well as it could have,” Graves said.
“We’ll be ready” for Andrews he said.
The head coach said he told the team, “We’ve got to get you ready” for the regular season. With that in mind, the Cougars have two more scrimmage games on their schedule, the first this Friday night at home against Andrews. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.