Rockets take on Germantown in scrimmage football game

The Neshoba Central Rockets will receive an early test Friday when they take on Germantown in a scrimmage game.

The varsity will play a half and the junior varsity will play a half. The action starts at 7 p.m.

Germantown is led by senior running back Branson Robinson, a 5-11, 220 pounder who has committed to play for the Georgia Bulldogs.

“Robinson is a big back,” said Rockets coach Patrick Schoolar. “He’s committed to Georgia so he should be OK. It will give our defense a chance to tune up because the next week, we are playing South Panola and they have a Dandy Dozen running back.”

Even though this is a scrimmage game that won’t count on their record, Schoolar said the Rockets are treating it like a regular game.

“If you get ahead of yourself and don’t play well this week, it can continue on,” Schoolar said. “It is going to be a full game, two quarters of varsity and two-quarters of junior varsity. We take them one week at a time, and this week it is Germantown and after this week we will focus on South Panola and so on.”

The Rockets have been working on running, conditioning and weight lifting throughout the summer. Last Monday, they started with the official fall training program. They put the shoulder pads first the first time since spring training last Thursday. The main challenge has been the hot summer days.

“We are trying to beat the heat and beat that mental wall,” Schoolar said. “It’s hard to get through that. We had a pretty good week of practice. We really weren’t playing for anything last week. Next week, it should be better. It always helps when you are looking to play for something.

“We had some really good things and bad things happen last week. We just have to iron things out and keep getting better. That, and try to avoid COVID-19. That’s the nature of the beast. We have to find some way to co-exist with this thing.”

The Rockets open their schedule at home Aug. 27 against South Panola.