MacArthur has made a habit in recent years of scheduling tough opponents for the preseason scrimmages, and this year was no different.
The Highlanders welcomed back-to-back state runner-up Bishop McGuinness to Cameron Stadium on Friday night for a friendly exhibition, and the Highlanders have plenty to be optimistic about only two weeks before the season opener against Eisenhower on Aug. 31.
Defense flexes muscles
Every team that has gone up against McGuinness in the past year knows exactly how good Irish running back Dominic Richardson can be.
Last season, Richardson was arguably the best back in the state, rushing for 2,135 yards and 26 touchdowns on only 189 carries, about 11.3 yards per touch. Despite missing the entirety of the playoffs with a broken leg suffered in Week 10, Richardson was the only player to average more than 200 yards per game (213.5).
The junior showed no signs of holding back, taking the first carry of the scrimmage 23 yards down the left side of the field.
Mac coach Brett Manning praised Richardson’s speed after the scrimmage.
“That running back is really good,” Manning said. “We had to get that game speed down because we can’t simulate a guy like that in practice. Once we got the feel of it, our defense did a really good job overall of running to the football. We had some plays where it kind of looked like they had us on the edge, but our pursuit caught up to them and didn’t allow big gains. I was proud of how tough our defense played.”
The Highlanders’ defense refused to let that opening play turn into a pattern, though.
Only two plays later, outside linebacker Weston Golson intercepted a pass from McGuinness quarterback Luke Tarman. Manning moved Golson from safety to linebacker to take advantage of his body size — a decision that has seemingly paid off.
“He’s just a bigger body,” Manning said. “We had several defensive backs who we felt good about, and if one of them could move to outside backer, it would be him. He’s taken on that role and has done a really good job.”
Manning said a turnover is always such a momentum changer and confidence builder, but an interception from an outside linebacker made it even more special.
“That’s something we’ve really worked hard on in the spring is getting those outside backers dropping better and helping us out more in pass coverage,” Manning said. “It was good to see that position get a pick.”
The Irish ran 48 plays, but the Mac defense allowed only two scores, keeping McGuinness out of the end zone on two-straight 12-play possessions.
Young offense exceeds expectations
Mac lost a good deal of talent from last season’s offense that averaged nearly 34 points per game, but that didn’t seem to be a problem on Friday.
The teams alternated every 12 plays, but it took the Highlanders only a few of those to find the end zone on their opening drive with a 7-yard touchdown pass from Racer Felter to Michelle Artzberger.
Later, Felter scored on a 20-yard touchdown run. In the goal line portion of the scrimmage, where both teams ran multiple plays beginning from the 10-yard line, Felter threw back-to-back touchdown passes — one to Javaughn Foster and one to Keylan Murray.
“Offensively, Michelle Artzberger did a great job at receiver, and Racer had a really good scrimmage — he’s been very solid and very consistent all summer,” Manning said. “Our offensive line, that’s a big question mark and still is a big question mark, but they hung in there. They were tough and fought hard.”
Running backs Jordan Rollison and DShaun “DD” Davis recorded a handful of carries in the scrimmage, giving fans a first look at what Mac’s rushing attack will look like this year. Both had at least one carry of 5 yards or more.
“Both of them did good — they were consistent,” Manning said. “We have so many backs hurt right now, DD and Jordan get all the reps in practice, and it’s just a grind for them every day. They run themselves to death every day and give great effort, and I think it showed.”
Despite his team’s success against a Class 5A power, Manning said he knows there remains areas that must be polished if the Highlanders want to improve from last season’s 6-5 record. In other words, Mac is far from reaching its peak.
“We did some things good, and we made a lot of mistakes, too,” Manning said. “It seems like I say the same thing every year after the first scrimmage — we made a lot of mistakes and have a lot of improvement to do.”
The Highlanders have another tough test next week at Carl Albert, where Mustang and Putnam City North will also be involved in the scrimmage.