What did Westfield learn from their preseason football scrimmage against Southland Academy?

PERRY — There are officially no more Fridays in Houston County without high school football until November.

Westfield kicked off their season with a preseason scrimmage against Southland Academy on Friday, an opponent they’ve played for 25 consecutive years, led by Hornets alum Chance Jones who took over in 2024.

“We normally play them in the regular season. Me and Chance got together in January … I wanted to keep him on the schedule, so I ain’t ask nobody else, said Westfield head coach Chad Campbell about picking the Raiders for their scrimmage.

Southland Academy incorporated a lot of fake handoffs and pre-snap motion, so the defense had to remain alert all night long.

There were good moments, like back-to-back three-and-outs for the Hornets’ defense to open the game. But there were also things Campbell will want to look back at on film.

“They do different things offensively, so we worked on it for a few days and we put a little package in,” he said. “They got on our linebackers too much, so that tells me we’re not doing a good job up front in some instances.”

Perfectly executing the X’s and O’s wasn’t on Campbell’s priority list, though.

“I told them tonight I don’t really care about [mistakes], I just want to see how hard they played,” Campbell said. “It looked like they gave a good effort.”

“We got to get off the ground a little bit, we stayed on the ground when we got blocked or missed a tackle. We got to do a good job of finishing plays,” he continued. “But for the most part I thought the kids played hard anyway. Then we didn’t have a lot of penalties … I thought we played pretty clean football.”

Aside from a mental miscue from a senior that Campbell called out after the game, there were remarkably few flags thrown for either side.

That allowed the offenses to play freely, and there were plenty of exciting plays to keep the crowd engaged.

Stone St. Clair in particular made the game look like child’s play.

In the first quarter he was lined up out wide against one defensive back in off-coverage. He audibly called Brock Johnson’s name before the snap.

St. Clair burst off the line, easily shaking his defender and cutting into the middle of the field for a wide open catch that went 40-odd yards to the end zone.

Win Hoots made a spectacular catch in the second half and overall when the Hornets connected on the deep ball it was game over.

The ground game didn’t catch the same traction.

“We gotta be able to run the football better,” Campbell said. “We got guys who can do things in space. [Brock Johnson], he’s a dual threat … He’s our best runner, and we’ll utilize him more in the run game [in the regular season].”

Campbell acknowledged his personnel, and the reality that the pigskin might catch a little more air this season.

“We got guys on the outside that can go get it, so we may be a little different offensively this year. We may have to chuck it around a little bit more, whatever it takes to win,” Campbell said. “I thought [the offensive line] did a decent job of pass protection tonight.”

UP NEXT

Westfield opens the regular season at home against Brookstone on Aug. 14 at 7:30 p.m.

Southland Academy begins their season on the road at Baconton Charter on Aug. 21 at 7:30 p.m.