If the first scrimmage of the year is any indication, Warrior football fans should expect a lot of fireworks during the 2011-2012 season.

The Warriors scored five touchdowns in their scrimmage at James Monroe on August 13. Junior RB Kyler Doss scored three rushing TDs and senior QB Skylar Knisley threw two TD passes - one to Doss and one to senior RB Matt Arbogast.

The scoring outbreak is even more impressive because it happened on just 30 offensive plays. In addition, the Warriors scrimmaged against an AA Maverick team with 60 players. The single-A Warriors have just 28 players on their roster.

Representing another good omen for football season, the Warrior defense gave up no scores in the same number of plays.

Coach Mike Knisley was happy with the offensive effort.

"We're going to be all right if we stay healthy," he said. "We definitely have some big play potential. We block extremely well, most of the time. Pass protection leaves a little bit to be desired, but we got a couple sophomores on one side of the line and they're learning."

The coach was pleased with the team's defensive play, but said players need to work on fitness.

"As a whole we played pretty well, defensively. We hit. We controlled the line of scrimmage pretty well. As a whole, I was pretty pleased with the overall effort today. We definitely need to do a little bit more conditioning. We still got a ways to go there," the coach continued.

Knisley said Doss was the team's not-so-secret weapon.

"Kyler Doss probably had seven or eight carries today," he said. "He had well over 150 yards rushing on seven or eight carries and he caught a bubble pass, as well. He scored from 70 yards out. Again, it's the big play potential."

The coach was impressed with DB Devin Rose's pass defense.

"Devin Rose had some limited time," he said. "He had no time offensively. He still has a little bit of an ankle sprain. He got out there and did some nice things defensively."

Knisley said the mistakes he saw were fixable.

"The mistakes were not ability," he said. "The mistakes were just mental and lack of experience. That's both sides of the ball. We didn't have, 'he just got thrown,' or 'we're getting blown up' or 'we're too weak.' It was none of those issues. It was just fundamental mental breakdowns and what you'd expect."

The players' ability to learn will be critical to the team's success, the coach said.

"When you go live and start showing them on film what they did and start learning from it - that will be the key to how good we are, as the season goes on. How well we are able to learn and correct those mistakes."

The Warriors hold their second and final scrimmage at Nicholas County High School in Summersville on August 20. Scrimmage times are 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

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