Fighting Scots compete in BCS Championship

LAURINBURG — As the calendar prepares to flip to August the Fighting Scots finished out their summer practices Wednesday morning with some friendly competition.

Instead of keep to their traditional practice routine, coach Richard Bailey and his staff were running the final day of the BCS Championship — an inter-team competition where players are divided into eight teams and pitted against each other in various speed and skills drills.

The team competitions began in June and were held every Wednesday during summer practices. Bailey and his staff kept score throughout the team competitions to determine the rankings of each team for Wednesday’s BCS Championship.

Players were given T-shirts with their team colors — yellow, black, red, blue, orange, light blue, purple and green — to help identify them as they moved through the various drills. Each player took on someone from the other team, who was of similar size and skill level. Coaches kept score through each head-to-head event, which included tire pulls, sled races, cone drills and speed drills.

After the first round of the championships only four teams advanced to the next round — light blue, black, orange and purple.

The second round of competition saw players try to slow down, which caused coaches to deduct points from their teams for lack of effort. Despite the heat and humidity, the Scots coaching staff demanded the best from their players.

“Winning a state championship isn’t easy,” said Bailey. “Did you really think winning the BCS Championship was going to be?”

Players from the six other eliminated teams gathered around to cheer on their teammates as the competition intensified.

Once all the drills were completed, Bailey sat in the middle of the practice field to tally up the results. This year’s championship was between the light blue team and the purple team.

In the end, the light blue team, led by rising senior Zamir White, prevailed taking home the BCS Championship trophy and bragging rights.

The Fighting Scots will begin tryouts and their first official practice of the 2017 season on Monday, July 31 at 8 a.m. Players interested in trying out for this year’s football team will need to have their physical and concussion forms turned in. If not players will need to bring the forms with them on Monday.

Amber Hatten can be reached at 910-506-3170.

Amber Hatten | Laurinburg Exchange Fighting Scots offensive lineman Darian Reeves lifts a tractor tire during Wednesday’s BCS Championship. The tire flip was one of several stations players had to compete in to try and win the inter-team competition.

https://laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_IMG_0038.jpgAmber Hatten | Laurinburg Exchange Fighting Scots offensive lineman Darian Reeves lifts a tractor tire during Wednesday’s BCS Championship. The tire flip was one of several stations players had to compete in to try and win the inter-team competition.