Tigers entertain Keys Cougars tonight for preseason scrimmage

The Central Tigers will have their lone preseason scrimmage of the 2025 season as they entertain the Keys Cougars at 6 tonight at Tiger Stadium.

Since the Tigers will not have a scrimmage next week and wait until their season opener at 7 p.m. Sept. 5 at Heavener before taking to the field once again, tonight’s first taste of a game-type situation is a crucial one.

“This scrimmage is pretty important,” Central coach Jeremy Thompson said. “It’s one that will let you know where you’re at. We’ll have had two weeks of practice. It will show your strengths and weaknesses, and where you need to improve and get better.”

Just the fact that tonight will be a game-like situation for the Tigers has the juices of excitement flowing.

“It’s something you’re definitely excited for,” Thompson said. “We can’t wait to get on the field. You’ve been beating on each other enough. To get to come out, to get on your field and get after it against another opponent is always exciting. It’s always about the process of getting better each and every week. The first scrimmage will really give you a tell so you will know exactly where you’re at.”

The key thing Thompson wants to see tonight from his defense is alignment and being in the right positions.

“First and foremost, it’s about alignment defensively, getting lined up and understanding what is most important on the defensive side of the football with the right calls and communication,” he said. “Alignment is the biggest key to defense, whatever your defensive scheme is. We know we’re going to make mistakes, and we know we’re going to be misaligned from time to time. We want the mistakes we do make to be fixable — to be able to correct those mistakes. That’s the No. 1 key on that side of the defensive side of the ball.”

Offensively, Thompson wants to see his players play with aggression.

“The second thing we want to see is to play fast and physical — that’s our No. 1 goal,” Thompson said. “It’s about execution. We’re going to run two plays, we’re going to run outside and we’re going to run counter. We want to do those two things very well. We’ll have about four passing concepts we’ll go into it (the scrimmage) with. We want to play well up front offensive line wise. We want to do the little things. It’s what we talk about every day. That is the key for us, and that’s what we’re going to be looking for (offensively).”