By John Raffel
Correspondent
HARRISON —Harrison football coach Jamie Lipovsky was able to use 7-on-7 passing camps over the summer to his advantage.
“It’s been busy,” Lipovsky said in mid-July as summer football was coming to a close. “We met 15 times for lifting and some 7-on-7 stuff. It’s been busy. It’s been a good turnout with the kids so far.”
The practice season starts on Monday, Aug. 11.
The Hornets had a highly successful season in 2024 and the enthusiasm, Lipovsky feels, has carried over to this year.
“Some of our underclassmen will be leading our team and we’ll expect them to pick up, Lipovsky said. “We lost some really good seniors and we need (the underclassmen) to play good ball.”
That factor makes summer even more important, Lipovsky agreed, rather than relying on 2 1/2 weeks of practice prior to the first game. “You can’t miss it, you have to be ready to go.”
On the third day after Aug. 11, the pads come on and later teams are able to do some live hitting.
“The first little bit is feeling out and you get to understand where kids can play and what their best suit is,” Lipovsky said. “You have to mold them like a puzzle to come up with what’s going to be best.”
Passing camps gave Harrison coaches a chance especially to focus on pass defense more than pass offense.
“We throw the ball probably five percent of the time,” Lipovsky said. “Most of our game is run game. We’re here to see the spread teams to see if they can throw the ball against us and watch us compete.”
