It wasn’t the scrimmage that had originally been scheduled, but the Ponca City Wildcats made do with what was available to them Friday night.

The Wildcats have participated in a multi-team scrim mage against other Class 6A schools held in Stillwater for a number of years and were anticipating doing it again this year. But the event was cancelled last week. Instead, the Wildcats conducted their own “mock game” at Sullins Stadium by themselves.

Coach Scott Harmon and his staff divided up the players into teams with the names “first offense,” “first defense,” “second offense,” etc. Those teams saw action in the Ponca City turf during Friday’s session.

Harmon expressed some delight in what he saw during the session, especially in the work of his offensive units.

“We looked much better offensively,” Harmon said. “First offense scored touchdowns on both of their possessions tonight. They had only one turnover.”

After a Red vs. Navy intrasquad scrimmage a week earlier, Harmon had said that his defensive unit was ahead of the offense, which he also noted was normal for the beginning of practices.

“The defense has some kids competing for spots, so things are right where we want them to be going into our next scrimmage,” Harmon added about most recent action.

The next scrimmage is one against Cushing scheduled Thursday at Sullins Stadium. The season is slated to open for earnest on Sept. 4 with a game against old rival Enid. The schedule calls for that opener to begin at 7 p.m. in Sullins Stadium.