The Ariton Purple Cats closed out spring practice with a 35-20 win over Zion Chapel on Friday night.

Despite having nine spring practices to help prepare them for live action, head coach Steven Kilcrease feels like his team is right where it needs to be.

“We made a lot of mistakes,” Kilcrease said. “Having it being a spring game and having nine practices, it takes a lot of time. We are about where we thought we would be. We know the things we have to work on in the offseason. Hopefully we will improve on them before August rolls around.”

Friday night’s game was a game for everyone on the Purple Cat roster. The varsity players played midway through the second quarter before giving way to the junior varsity heading into halftime. After playing the third quarter, the junior high squads closed out the game in the fourth quarter.

“It was a huge positive,” Kilcrease said. “We had two practices each day. We practiced varsity first and then we brought the junior high in. That’s all the coaches practicing each team. I thought it was a good way go about it. It gave the junior high guys a lot more eyes. We have a lot of kids in junior high. I thought it was good experience for them and I thought they learned a lot.”

The Purple Cats are returning Maddux Herring at quarterback this upcoming season and he was a bright spot on Friday night.

“I thought we threw the ball well,” Kilcrease said. “Maddux threw the ball well. He threw for a little over 300 yards and to different guys.”
Troy Hix has started for the Purple Cats for two years, but during the spring Kilcrease thought he was one of his most improved players.

“I thought he had a really good game for us,” Kilcrease said. “He probably had 50-60 yards receiving for us with a touchdown. He blocked extremely well and he had a rush for about eight yards or so.”

The Purple Cats let up a few too many big plays for defensive coordinator Chuck Dunn’s liking according to Kilcrease, but overall it was a strong performance.

“We gave up a few plays that I know coach Dunn was upset about,” Kilcrease said. “They had a long run for a touchdown. We missed a tackle in the backfield and we took bad angles. Those are things we can fix.”