Prior to the start of the football season, Scotland coach Richard Bailey said his role as a motivator truly depends on his team’s performance. If the Scots are doing poorly, Bailey tries to bring some extra positivity into the locker room to counteract criticism from fans and everyone else outside of the team. If the team is doing well, Bailey keeps his team honest by putting a greater emphasis on correcting mistakes.

He’s likely had to do more of the latter through the first four games of the season. The Scots are entering their bye week with a 4-0 record after several convincing victories. But anyone who has seen the Scots play this season knows that there is still plenty to work on. The Scots have gotten in their own way plenty of times on offense this season. But there’s also been plenty of good things, including some noticeable improvements from last season.

Here’s a look at some some of the good and bad things that we’ve seen in the first four weeks of the season.

THE GOOD

Despite losing some key starters from last year’s squad, Scotland’s defensive unit has been outstanding this season. The Scots are especially skilled at neutralizing running backs. That became evident when Scotland opened the season by holding Southeast Guilford to minus-18 rushing yards.

Hoggard is the only team that has scored more than one touchdown against the Scots so far — Scotland beat the Vikings 40-13 at home.

Scotland’s group of running backs has also been impressive so far. The Scots started the year with four capable running backs — Kyshaun Galberth, Savion Leak, Darrius Dockery and R.J. Nicholson. Dockery’s season was unfortunately cut short by an ACL tear at Marlboro County, leaving the Scots without one of their speediest options in the backfield, but the remaining three ball carriers are peforming at a high level.

The Scots have been able to rely on their specialists in big situations. Punter Matt Sellers is having another impressive year after being named the Sandhills Athletic Conference’s top specialist last season. Perhaps his most impressive punt of this young season was one of around 40 yards that he executed while being hit by a defender last week at Conley. Kicker Andrew Oswald is finding his groove on kickoffs. His kicks targeted at the right side of the field kept Conley’s return team off-balance last week.

THE BAD AND THE UGLY

Perhaps no one has been more effective at stopping Scotland’s offense than … Scotland’s offense. The Scots have shot themselves in the foot numerous times this season. Errant snaps, bad handoffs and botched pass protection schemes have hampered the Scots early in the season.

Those errors have caused the Scots to leave plenty of points on the board. Their four wins to this point look impressive if you take only the final scores into account, but the Scots could give themselves much more room to breath with some better execution.

The Scots have also been hit with plenty of costly penalties. Several unsportsmanlike conduct penalties were called during last week’s game at Conley. Exhibiting good discipline will be key going forward. The SAC includes several potent offenses, and giving those teams free yardage will more than likely come back to bite the Scots. That wasn’t always the case in the first few games.

Brandon Tester Sports editor
https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_Brandon-Tester-2.jpgBrandon Tester Sports editor

Brandon Tester can be reached at [email protected] or 910-506-3170. Follow him on Twitter @BrandonTester