Jasper summery by Jasper Newsboy

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Dawgs to test level of play with PN-G

By JIMMY GALVAN Managing Editor

In their first scrimmage of the season against Port Neches-Groves this Saturday, Jasper Head Football Coach Danny Lauve has only one mission in mind.

"We want to see who can and can't play," Lauve said.

The Bulldogs kick off the scrimmage season Saturday against the Indians at 4 p.m. for freshmen, 5 p.m. for junior varsity and 6 p.m. for the varsity. The scrimmages will be held at Bulldog Stadium.

"You can only find out so much from the kids in the offseason," Lauve said. "You have some kids who are great workers but different on the football field.

"We're just trying to find out who are the best 11 we have to put on the football field," Lauve said. "That is our job."

In order to get to the best 11 on offense and defense, Lauve's coaching staff will make the scrimmage an opportunity to evaulate a lot of players.

"This will allow us to see who our players are and where they fall on the depth chart," Lauve said.

Because depth is a major factor on any 3A squad, Lauve said it is important that coaches gain valuable knowledge on their players'abilities during the practice games.

"You have to prepare your backup kids to be able to step in and do the job in case of an injury," Lauve said. "And the only way to do that is to put them on the field and let them learn."

The PN-G scrimmage could also reveal some problem spots as well.

"It will point out any weaknesses we have and things that we need to work on," Lauve said.

Lauve said traditionally a question mark for most football teams is throwing the football. And with sophomore quarterback William Ellis at the helm this year, passing the ball remains a bit of a question for Jasper.

"We will go into the scrimmages throwing a lot and finding out about our quarterbacks and receivers," Lauve said. "We're going to see how William handles the position against some quality opponents in PN-G and Nederland."

Lauve said Ellis gets the early nod at the position but added "we are still looking at three or four other guys that we feel confident in to get the job done."

While the coaching staff is pretty confident about its running attack, Lauve said a question mark remains the offensive line where key starters graduated from last year.

"Our offensive line is untested this year," Lauve said.

He said this first scrimmage will give the team a chance to see where they are and how much work they have to do to make it to that illustrious Week 11.

"We're going to have to be in great shape and learn what we can the first couple of weeks and be ready to put it on the field against them," Lauve said.

Most scrimmages are about teaching and learning and not the final score, but Lauve added that this year's group needs to gain some valuable confidence as well.

"This year's team doesn't have a lot of varsity experience on it," Lauve said. "You want to come out of the scrimmage with some kind of confidence. You don't have to win the scrimmage but you can show them plays that were done right as well as plays that were done wrong and what can be done to fix them."