Cougars Battle Heat at Spring Practice

Despite battling extreme weather conditions, the Piedmont Academy football team wrapped up its spring practice session last week with an eye toward the upcoming season.

Practice sessions were moved to later in the evening to combat the hot temperatures and coach Rhett Farmer said the school’s water policy for players also helped.

“Our players are allowed access to water at all times,” the coach said. “We moved the second week of practice to the evenings because of the temperatures. We still got some things accomplished and got our younger players up to speed. We never put a lot in during spring. We simply put in a little for our defense to have something to work against.”

Weight training will continue until the team begins on-the-field preseason practice July 25. The players also lifted weights as part of the spring session. Players will also have some on-the-field work in coming weeks depending on their position.

“We have some major personnel questions,” Farmer said. “We are looking to fill areas at defensive end, linebacker and secondary. On offense, we have spots at guard and tight end. We’ll have to see how we want to approach it. We have a lot of work to do, there’s no doubt about it.”

Piedmont opens the 2011 season on Friday, Aug. 26 against Nathanael Greene at home. That game will be followed by a trip to Griffin Christian on Sept. 2.
The Cougars are coming off their first-ever undefeated, state championship season.