Pike Liberal Arts shook off the rust last Friday afternoon in a scrimmage with Chambers Academy. The scripted game allowed both teams to mix it up in game action, while still being able to dial in their gameplans before the start of the AISA season.

Pike Lib head coach Gene Allen said that he saw both positive and negative things during the scrimmage session.

“Overall, I was pretty pleased with what I saw,” said Allen. “We ran the ball well at times, but I saw that we need to work on our passing a little more. Defensively, I feel we got better as the game went, but got tired towards the end, which tells me we haven’t been running enough. It was good to get out there and see what we have.”

By playing Chambers, Pike got an extra look at the type of offense that it will see in the first game of regular season against Morgan Academy on Aug. 30.

The Senators run a double wing system, similar to that of Rebels from LaFayette.

“Morgan runs a lot of the guard pulls and stuff like that,” Allen said. “It was good to see a little of that, because we didn’t do a very good job up front, which is something we will work on this week.

The extra week in between the scrimmage and opening game also allows players who may have gotten dinged up more time to recuperate.

“By playing the game earlier, you have more time to rest some of the guys that may have been injured,” said Allen. “Teams that play this Thursday or Friday might open the season without one of their key guys.”

Pike opens the 2013 season Aug. 30 against Morgan Academy in Selma.