With school already back in session, the student athletes at Mount Vernon High School who play fall sports have already begun to scrimmage opponents as they prepare for the season.
In football, the Jackets will hold four scrimmages.
The football team had a scrimmage on Aug. 6 and will have another one on Friday against Heath High School, Aug. 20 against Marion Harding High School and Aug. 27 against Newark High School.
The team will begin the season on Sept. 7 against Hayes High School.
Athletic Director Justin Sanford said that the scrimmage portion of the season has been condensed down, but he was looking forward to playing a full regular season.
“Everything's just going to happen a little bit quicker,” he said. “Boys soccer will scrimmage this week as well.”
Sanford said the team would hold a practice session against its usual scrimmage partners and that the volleyball team would start scrimmaging as well, with a couple of athletic teams already seeing preseason action.
“Girls soccer had a scrimmage last Friday, and golf and tennis actually start this week with matches,” Sanford added.
Sanford said the golf team recently hosted a golf tournament.
“We hosted a big golf invitational (last) Friday out at Chapel Hill,” he said “That's a big, big tournament for us with over twenty-plus teams. They (will have) their first match this Thursday and our JV golf team is hosting a tournament over at Hiawatha Golf Course with the same scenario, over 20-something teams.“
Sanford added that the regular season will be an exciting opportunity for athletes to start making a name for themselves as several of their athletes received scholarships to continue their athletic careers in college.
“We have a number of kids that are in Division II, Division III level from a football standpoint,” he said. “We have a number of them that have graduated here over the years that have continued to play in college. ... Probably our two big marquee guys that have gone on (to play in college) are in Division I: Cory Berg, a track athlete out at University of Nebraska, and Erich Rhodeback, a recent grad, just won the state championship in the hurdles. He is committing to Purdue. Those are obviously spring sports kids but nevertheless obviously fun to be around.
“The golf team had a decent year last year, probably more of a kind of a rebuilding year for us last year than it was the year previous,” he added. “We didn't have any state qualifiers last year, but the year before we did. He's (Conner Curry) actually playing at Malone University, a golfer up there having a great year.”
Sanford said he expects a great season from the golf squads.
On the coaching front, Sanford said that Lauren Townly has taken over the girls volleyball program and added that he would be looking to add a new swim coach soon.
“We will have a new swim coach,” he said. “Our swim coach took the head coaching job over at Wittenberg University. So we'll be hiring a new swim coach here in August.”
Sanford has been involved with the Jackets for the past 19 years and oversaw the new field house opening last year.
