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

Instead of keeping 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, orange, black, red, light blue, purple, green and dark blue — 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 — dark blue, black, purple and light blue. Purple and light blue competed against each other while dark blue and black faced off.

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 black and purple teams. Purple had to compete without their senior team captain and down another man, who was told to leave the competition after reportedly not completing the drills and exhibiting a bad attitude.

Bailey commended the purple team for their efforts, as he awarded the BCS Championship to the black team.

“You only lost by one point,” he said. “That deserves a round of applause since you were down a man and your team captain decided to not show up. Those aren’t the kind of people we want on this team. People with bad attitudes will always abandon you when you need them most. The man upstairs doesn’t care if you win a single game, what he cares about is how you handled the situation.”

The Fighting Scots will hold varsity mini-camp today as they close out summer workouts. The first official practice of the 2018 season will be Monday, July 30, from 6 to 9 p.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-Staley can be reached at 910-506-3170 or [email protected].

Amber Hatten-Staley | Laurinburg Exchange The black team won the Fighting Scots BCS Championship, an annual inter-team competition. The team entered the day as the No. 6 seed and went against the purple team in the championship.
https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_IMG_5075.jpgAmber Hatten-Staley | Laurinburg Exchange The black team won the Fighting Scots BCS Championship, an annual inter-team competition. The team entered the day as the No. 6 seed and went against the purple team in the championship.

Amber Hatten-Staley | Laurinburg Exchange Scotland coach Thomas Havner encourages freshman Cayden Scott during the tractor tire flip. The drill was part of Wednesday’s BCS Championship, an inter-team competition the Fighting Scots have each Wednesday during summer workouts.
https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_IMG_4817.jpgAmber Hatten-Staley | Laurinburg Exchange Scotland coach Thomas Havner encourages freshman Cayden Scott during the tractor tire flip. The drill was part of Wednesday’s BCS Championship, an inter-team competition the Fighting Scots have each Wednesday during summer workouts.
Black team pulls of upset

By Amber Hatten-Staley

Sports editor