Published: August 22, 2008 12:52 am            

The Harve not quite ready

Those hoping to check out the new surface at Harve Collins Field for tonight’s Norman North-Edmond North scrimmage are out of luck.

Heavy rains the past two weeks have pushed back the new field’s preparations, namely the addition of rubber pellets used to make the field feel more like real grass, as well as the addition of team logos from each school.

While it looks playable now, those two finishing touches are important to put down before The Harve is ready to go.

“They just have a couple things left to do,” NHS athletic coordinator Trey Selmon said. “It should be ready in plenty of time for the first home game (Sept. 18) and we hope it will be ready to go next Thursday for our scrimmage with P.C. North.”

Several Timberwolves expressed their excitement to hit the new field for the first time at last Saturday’s intrasquad scrimmage.

Instead, they’ll take on the Huskies at Edmond North’s campus, not the University of Central Oklahoma’s Wantland Stadium, where the Edmond schools play their home games.

“They’re just anxious to get out and hit somebody from another team,” North coach Lance Manning said of his players. “They’re a little disappointed, but they just want to go play.”

The Tigers, meanwhile, will be in Lawton for their first scrimmage of the preseason.

“I think everyone’s just tired of hitting each other,” NHS coach Greg Nation said. “We’ve shortened our practices some because school has started. Our biggest thing is getting kids back into a routine, getting them back into a schedule.”

Both scrimmages will have the varsity squads taking the field around 7 p.m.

Now the Tigers will be the first team to play on The Harve’s new surface, whether it’s next week against the Panthers or the Sept. 18 home opener against Moore.

The T-Wolves will have to wait until a day later, Sept. 19, for their first home game against Westmoore.



Clash tickets on sale

The reason the two city teams will have to wait until mid-September to hit the new field is because they begin the regular season with the annual Cross-town Clash at OU’s Owen Field.

The game starts at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 4, and tickets are already on sale at each high school and at the Norman Public Schools athletic office at 131 S. Flood Ave. Gates will open at 6 p.m. and NHS fans can enter at Gate 5, North fans at Gate 7.

Tickets are $7 for adults and $4 for NPS students grades K-12 and OU students.



More weather

Heavy rains Monday and Tuesday forced both the Tigers and T-Wolves to adjust their practice routines, although NHS was out in the mud. North worked out indoors and had some morning conditioning, according to Manning. The T-Wolves also watched film.

Nation had his players in the slop at the NHS practice fields. A couple of players mentioned it was fun, though it didn’t please the coach too much.

“When I was playing, practicing in the mud was fun,” Nation said. “Now as a coach, I hate it. The players want to get muddy. But when they splash in the mud, I’m moving out of the way, I’m wiping it off, trying to stay clean.”



Secondary set

Manning has been trying to finalize his starting defensive backs since the first day of practice, and it looks like he’s got the four guys he wants playing the positions right now. Junior Brendan Brown and senior Kyle Wormington, who transferred in from Moore, will start at the safety positions while junior Nyko Symonds and senior Hayden Dupell will play the corners.

“They’ve been playing well and I think we’ve got it (set),” Manning said.



Tigers comfortable

When NHS travels to Lawton for tonight’s scrimmage, it will be the first time Nation’s Tigers will compete against an opposing program under the new coach’s offensive and defensive systems. But the coaching staff isn’t worried.

The players have had the summer and two weeks of intensive practice to become acclimated. Nation is anxious to see his guys hit the field.

“Coach (Shannon) Carter and I were talking about it the other day, just how comfortable our kids are settling in right now,” Nation said. “Not only are they competing hard, but they’re feeling comfortable with what they’re doing.”

Jeff Johncox

366-3535

jjohncox@normantranscript.com

        

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