Passing camp readies football teams

Lakeside High School's football stadium was once again active last weekend when eight different high school football teams descended on the Panther field.

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The Panther program played host to the Second Annual Lakeside 7-on-7 Passing Camp in preparation for the upcoming football season. Teams from Warren County, Richmond Academy, Hephzibah, Jefferson County, Dooly County, Kendrick and Laurens attended the Saturday event.

"We're working on plays and perfecting them," Lakeside rising junior Michael Paul said. "Right now I'm just trying to be quick enough to break on the ball. We're seeing some good teams out here, and I think that's helped."

An extremely young 2006 Lakeside squad returned to the field on Saturday as a more experienced bunch for the 2007 campaign. The day was filled with many eager Panthers such as Paul hoping to improve in several areas.

The man leading the charge was first-year Lakeside head coach Jody Grooms. With most of last year's assistant coaches remaining on staff including former head coach Randy Hill, Grooms and his coaches were busy leading the Panthers through six 45-minute scrimmages.

For a team that has stuck with the running game in the past few years, the ball was flying through the air exclusively at Saturday's passing camp.

"We're going to try and be more balanced," Grooms said. "We want to be in the position where we can throw the ball when we need to and run the ball when we need to."

That idea meant one of the top tasks of the offseason has been trying out different quarterbacks at Lakeside. Last year's starter, rising junior Chad Chandler, took most of the snaps on Saturday, but Grooms said Will Evans, Khadi Tshishiku and Justin Pitock are also among those in the running for the quarterback job.

Area high school football teams will continue individual workouts through the rest of the summer before official team practices are permitted beginning Aug. 1, and full contact practices are allowed starting Aug. 6.

Lakeside's season opener will take place at home at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 31 against Aquinas.