Larry McCoy Field, at Athens Stadium, served as the grounds for the Golden Eagles three-team OTA against 5A Brewer and 6A Buckhorn early Thursday morning, July 13.

“I like working against programs where I know that they coach well, and I know that they are going to be run the right way,” Cody Gross, Athens head varsity football coach, said. “We are playing football out here with no pads on, so it can be very dangerous.”

The more than three-hour event allowed for each team to face-off against each other in many different drills. Some of the drills included some seven-on-seven matchups, and usually finished with a scripted scrimmage for both team’s offenses and defenses.

“As the competitive juices start flowing between both teams, it is easy for things to start getting chippy,” Gross said. “That being said, we have a ton of respect and admiration for both Brewer and Buckhorn, and thank them for coming out here to help us all get better.”

Matt Plunkett, Brewers head varsity football coach, spoke to his team after their two scrimmages against both Buckhorn and Athens about accepting the challenge of playing bigger schools.

“Competition always makes you better, and the competition out here on the field is second to none, ” Plunkett said. “This was our third straight day of OTAs, and we are really proud of how we finished up these last few days.”

Athens opened up the morning going against Brewer; then Brewer played Buckhorn, and after they were done, the Golden Eagles finished up the day against Buckhorn. Gross expressed that his biggest hope on the day is that all players leave better than they came.

“There are plenty of good athletes out here, and even though it’s not real football it is still the next best thing to it,” Gross said.