The Madill Wildcats held their Black and Gold scrimmage on Saturday, August 15 at the Blake Smiley Stadium. Head Coach, Chad Speer, calls the plays in his first year at Madill. Speer enters his seventeenth year of coaching.
He started as Offensive Coordinator in Missouri, then spent two seasons with Northwest Missouri State as a graduate assistant. He then was head coach for Leavenworth High School in Kansas.
Speer spent the last ten years in the Durant area, spending three seasons as Offensive Lineman Coach and six seasons as Offensive Coordinator for the Southeastern Savage Storm. This last year, he was Offensive Lineman Coach for the Durant Lions.
Coaching the Wildcats alongside Speer will be Assistant Coaches Jose Cortes, Reggie Marshall, Austin Pettigrew, Alex Rainwater, Ron Robertson, Johnny Seals, Scott Shaw, Josh Sisco and John Sullenger.
With approximately 66 players on the roster, Speer said he is ready for the season.
“With us not being able to finish school last spring, we weren’t able to start building relationships with the players until June,” Speer said.
“So, it has taken some time, but I think we have adapted and overcome that pretty well. COVID-19 hasn’t had an impact on our practice time. We have had to do temperature checks which is an adjustment and have encouraged the kids to wear masks in the weight room and social distance when they can and when it’s feasible.”
In preparation for the season, Speer said he wants the players to focus on the day to day tasks on making themselves better; focusing on the little things each player can control like their attitude and effort.
“I want us to play extremely hard, be mentally and physically tough, respect the game and our opponent, and have fun,” Speer noted.
“If we can do that, I think we can have a team that the town of Madill is proud to have represent them.”
It was a hot Saturday morning at the Blake Smiley Stadium, with the scrimmage starting at 8:00 a.m. and ending at 9:30 a.m. Speer said he was pleased with the team.
“I thought the scrimmage was good off of first glance. We’ll watch the video as coaches to dig into things a little bit. I think we gave good effort. I think up front we need to focus on our physicality a little bit more. But hopefully that will come the more we practice in pads.”
“With only a couple of days in shoulder pads, I really like how the kids have picked things up mentally, especially the older guys.”
“I think we have gotten a lot better from the beginning of June until now,” he continued. “Seeing that growth has been great.”
The players on the field helping lead the Wildcats will be senior Griffon Williams, Juniors; Jorge Martinez, Kendall Robertson, Trey Gammill and Brandon Stevens. These players will be leaders on and off the field.
Speer said he will make sure the players have their priorities in the correct order.
“The biggest thing is you can’t have football without your education. In our list of priorities, we talk to our players about the education part comes before the football part.”
“We will try to help them along and have study halls for guys that might be struggling in a class or maybe on the probation list. Hopefully, that is motivation enough for them to take care of their classes, because if they don’t, they won’t play.”
Madill will host a scrimmage on Friday, August 21 at Blake Smiley Stadium against Davis and Broken Bow.
The ninth grade will start scrimmaging at 5:30 p.m. against Davis, and varsity will follow. Davis will then scrimmage Broken Bow with Madill scrimmaging Broken Bow following that. Admission will be donating laundry detergent to help Madill with laundry needs.
The Wildcats kick off the season against the Tishomingo Indians on August 28, with kickoff at 7:30 p.m. at Blake Smiley Stadium.
Speer said he encourages the public to come and support the players, as well as see the freshly painted facilities. Speer, assistant coaches, as well as Coach Speer’s wife, Karla, painted the field house, locker rooms, lockers, outside fencing and piping around the field house.