MISQUAH — Coach Ryan Mattox conceded the crowd in this newspaper two weeks ago and was proved right Friday: the scrimmage drew about forty people, most of them related to somebody on the field, while four miles away the grandstand was full for the tractor pull. Mattox described the turnout as “exactly what I said it would be” and the evening as “very useful, partly because of that.”

Twenty-nine players took part. The offense ran its first two series against air and the rest live; the line, which is the team’s question every year and this year has four returning starters, held up. Jon Sandbo, the sophomore center — six feet, fifteen years old, and by general agreement the strongest kid in the building — played the entire live portion and did not come out, which Mattox mentioned twice.

Nobody was hurt, which is the only real objective of an August scrimmage, and the coaching staff got what it needed on film. The team then made a decision, collectively and without adult supervision, that is covered in the next story on this page and that Mattox has declined to comment on beyond the following, delivered slowly: “They are fifteen and sixteen years old. There is a limit to what coaching can accomplish.”

Pike opens the season a week Friday on the road. Volleyball opens the same week with twenty-two out; cross country runs its first meet in two weeks. The full fall schedule is in School Notes.