Negaunee, Mich. – The Negaunee Miners wrapped up their second week of practice by hosting the Escanaba Eskymos at Miners Stadium on Friday August 19th.
The scrimmage, an annual event between the two schools, is a great opportunity for coaches to see their players at game speed. Varsity Head Coach Paul Jacobson says it’s an event he looks forward to every year for several reasons, including an opportunity to see who is ready for the season.
“We use this as an opportunity to asses where our guys are at both physically and mentally” Jacobson said while witching the Freshman and J.V. teams. “We like to see the kids have the chance to hit someone else other than their teammates which gets old after two weeks, but we also get to see who has the intensity and the work-ethic we as coaches want to see out of our guys. A great practice player doesn’t always make the best player Friday nights; so we look at who’s mentally sharp and intense…because if you can get prepared to scrimmage well, you can easily get ready for the real thing.
About 150 people turned out to watch the scrimmage, something that was also noted by the head coach. “Our support is tremedous in this town, we’re so fortunate that the community wraps itself around all our kids do both in athletics and in academics. Our kids get involved and that makes our job as teachers and coaches that much easier and that much more fun. We’re ready for a fun year.”
Negaunee opens the season Friday night August 26th against the Manistique Emeralds. Mark Evans and Gregg Nelson will have the call again this year for Negaunee football on “Football Night in Negaunee” on Sunny 101.9 WKQS.
