Cardinals open their preseason hosting a scrimmage with Riverdale Baptist Saturday. Ireton hosts Bishop O'Connell at 5pm Friday Sept 2 at Fannon Field to open the 2011 campaign.
When a team spends nearly a week of two-a-day practices playing against only each other, it starts to get old quickly. The Cardinals first action against an opponent came Saturday morning as the varsity and junior varsity saw contact with someone other than a teammate.
“We were ready to hit someone besides each other,” commented Ireton’s fifth year coach, Tony Verducci following the Saturday encounter with Riverdale Baptist. “Riverdale Baptist is an athletic team, a strong, talented squad that was a good first test for us. I liked our energy and the way we played at this point in the preseason.”
The squads played a series of 10 consecutive offensive plays then reversed the possession and played another 10 plays. The special teams had their work as well, with controlled tackling in order to refine the kicking and coverage while minimizing the possibility of injury on a special teams play. After two sets each, the teams played a controlled one quarter of football.
The Cardinals established early that fans will need to “pay attention” because they rarely huddled in their first competitive work and had the Crusaders on their heels pressing the next play as the blue and gold clan visitors were looking just to get lined up. Junior PJ Zingler opened at quarterback and moved the ball to a number of receivers while Andrew Bladen took a number of snaps as a running back for the Cards.
Defensively, the Cardinals played well but the larger Crusaders at one point moved the ball consistently on the ground before the redbirds used a fumble and penalty to force Riverdale Baptist to kick a long field goal.
Crusaders’ skipper Bob Shields saw progress for his team as well. “We have been practicing longer, but you could see the value of an RMA for Ireton. We like to come here, you always know you will see a well-coached team that is fundementally sound and plays hard. I thought we played well against what looks to be a very good Ireton football team.”
“We have some players banged up and we expect them back on Monday.” commented Verducci. “It was a good start today, and good to be home after a great week at Randolph Macon.”
Bishop Ireton will travel to Pallotti for their final scrimmage, a 6:30pm affair on Friday, August 26th. They open the regular season on Friday, September 2d when the Knights of Bishop O’Connell visit Fannon Field. The JV will open their season the day before with a 4pm kickoff at Fannon Field with the DJO youngersters. Admission to the varsity contest is $5, JV is free.
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