By Kevin Price For GCS Athletics Brunswick High and Glynn Academy will both be in action Friday night as the second week of preseason scrimmages in high school football takes place across the state. The Red Terrors will participate in the first-ever athletic contest on the new field turf at Glynn County Stadium as they scrimmage against Richmond Hill at the local facility. The Pirates, meanwhile, will make the short drive to Darien to square off with host McIntosh County Academy and Long County in scrimmage action. Below are previews of both scrimmage events that feature the two local teams. Richmond Hill at Glynn Academy Friday’s matchup against the Wildcats will be the second scrimmage for the Terrors in advance of their season opener next Friday. Last Friday night, the Terrors took on Wayne County at Jaycee Stadium in Jesup. Glynn gets two preseason scrimmages because it didn’t hold official spring practice, and by state rule, teams can scrimmage twice in the preseason if they didn’t have a spring practice. Richmond Hill is a former region foe for the Terrors, but the Wildcats are now playing in Class AAAAAAA as they were placed in the state’s largest classification in the most recent reclassifying of its member schools by the Georgia High School Association. Richmond Hill’s enrollment numbers in recent years put the school in the largest class, but the Wildcats were allowed to play down in classification previously because the state approved their appeal to remain in Class AAAAAA which largely had to do with travel and isolation from potential region opponents in the highest class. Last fall, the Wildcats defeated Glynn 14-7 at home after the Terrors pulled off a huge upset against them back in 2020 when Glynn won 7-5 over a heavily-favored Richmond Hill team with one of the best defensive games the Terrors have played under head coach Rocky Hidalgo and defensive coordinator Josh Veal. That win allowed the Terrors to clinch a share of first-place in Region 2-AAAAAA and they eventually were awarded the top seed for the state playoffs. Last week in Jesup, the Terrors didn’t score a touchdown against the Yellow Jackets in the controlled scrimmage. They did get three made field goals from Kody Arnold who made all three of his attempts during a kicking session between the third and fourth quarters. Hidalgo, who could have predicted a pile of mistakes by his inexperienced team, said the Terrors have had good practices this week. He hopes to see improved play on the turf Friday against the Wildcats. “Every rep we can get in practice is gonna count for us because we are so behind the 8-ball,” Hidalgo said. "Tuesday, our practice was really good, really physical. “Our assignment football wasn’t going to be good. I knew that going into last week. We have to be able to run eight or nine plays in a row without a mistake. Last week, we couldn’t do that. You have to do that to be able to drive the football.” The GA offensive front struggled mightily last Friday. This week, the Terrors have moved people around on the line in practice while looking to put their best mix on the field. “We’ve had things we wanted to see and we’ve tried to simplify things for some of the kids,” Hidalgo noted. The Terrors and Wildcats will play their front-line varsity players during the first three quarters Friday before having them give way to the sub-varsity players for the fourth quarter. Both teams will kick and punt, but the return game will not be live on special teams. The offenses will start on their own 30-yard line after a kickoff and will start from the point of a fair-catch following a punt. There also will be field-goal attempts and extra-point tries. The Terrors are scheduled to open the 2022 season next Friday at Statesboro which has moved down to Class AAAAA this season. Richmond Hill is set to open the season next Friday at home against Effingham County. Richmond Hill head coach Matt Lezotte is beginning his eighth season with the program. Brunswick High at McIntosh County Academy The Pirates will have their one and only dress rehearsal of the preseason Friday as they will play against both the Buccaneers and Long County. Last Friday, the Bucs and Blue Tide played against one another while this week the Pirates will also join the party. McIntosh is marketing the three-team get-together as an Old-School Jamboree. In the distant past, these preseason ordeals were largely jamborees that included three or more teams scrimmaging against one another. For instance, back in 1999 when the Pirates played in the Class AAAA state title game at the end of the season, they competed in a preseason jamboree that also included Glynn, Camden County and Bradwell Institute at Olvey Field in Hinesville. But also Friday night, the 7:30 p.m. scrimmage in Darien will be played at MCA’s field at the old high school which is now McIntosh Middle. The Bucs call this field the “Old Ship” as their current field at the new high school is known as “The Ship.” The natural-grass playing surface at the team’s current field has been re-grassed and McIntosh is giving it more time to be ready for the season. The Bucs will play their opener at home next Friday against Johnson High of Savannah. There are bleachers at the old field, but seating is limited. Fans are encouraged to bring their own chairs and set up shop on the grass for the Friday night fun. BHS will scrimmage Long for a quarter before taking on McIntosh. The Pirates will then sit out while Long and MCA scrimmage each other. The teams will repeat this same process with their junior-varsity teams as each participating team can play four quarters total. “A scrimmage game, it’s like an OTA,” said first-year BHS head coach Garrett Grady. “We’re gonna try and treat it like that. We’ll get some good film off of it, and we’re excited about it for sure. “I just wanna see our guys get out there and compete against someone else, be disciplined and play, play their technique and do their jobs.” This season, the Pirates plan to signal in their offensive plays from the sidelines, so Grady said Friday’s scrimmage will give the team a chance to do that like they have been in team practices. “We’re moving at a faster pace. Guys have to get the signal, get lined up correctly, get the formation, get the play,” he said. “Defensively, we’re just looking for toughness, discipline, no busted coverages and our guys communicating in the secondary.” The Pirates finished 11-1 last fall, their final one under head coach Sean Pender who left in early 2022 to take the head-coaching position at North Hall. BHS had an unbeaten 10-0 regular season and won the region championship before falling in the second round of the playoffs. Grady had been the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach under Pender. The Pirates rolled over McIntosh 42-0 in Game 2 last year in Darien. The Bucs went on to finish 6-5-1 and also reached round two of the Class A Public state playoffs. Long finished 5-6 a year ago and made the state playoffs for the first-ever time under first-year head coach Mike Pfiester. The Blue Tide compete in Class AAA.