The Jefferson City Jays are in a bit of a transition.
Instead of spreading out the defense, the Jays are working on more of a power game.
The team practiced both during Friday night's scrimmage at Adkins Stadium.
Jefferson City lined up in three-wide formations for much of the evening before making some personnel adjustments for the wishbone formation later in the scrimmage.
J.D. Barnes and Tyler Bise served as the two backs with K.D. Rosser at fullback.
"They are very physical," Jays coach Ted LePage said. "They are not afraid to hit. Tyler Bise will hit anything that moves. So will J.D. Barnes. We just feel like we've got a bunch of guys that if they had leather helmets they'd probably put on leather helmets and let's go to old school and here we come."
On a fourth-and-2 at the 8-yard line, Bise took the handoff for a four-yard gain. Devin Roberson completed a touchdown pass to tight end Ian Cote on the next play, using play action from the wishbone.
"We wanted to make sure that when we got in short yardage situations, we want to have an offense that we can go to," LePage said. "And we're just telling them, 'here we come, stop us.'"
Two other drives were stalled using the power-type offense, while the final drive in an overtime situation resulted in a two-yard TD run by Bise.
But the Jays also ran much of their traditional spread offense, using motion and play action to get the ball into the hands of running back Maleek Jackson and receiver Christian White.
"Both are supersonic fast," LePage said. " (Jackson) has that breakaway potential that we probably haven't had for quite some time at that position. (White) isn't very big, but what he lacks in size he makes up in quickness, in speed. We're going to try to get him isolated on some things."
White caught a 25-yard touchdown from Roberson and scored from 25 yards out on a jet sweep. Roberson also had a 12-yard touchdown on a designed run.
Roberson, a junior who'll start his first game next Friday at McCluer North, showed his dual-threat ability Friday. But he also had a couple instances when he overthrew his targets.
"He's a work in progress," LePage said. "His upside is tremendous. He just wants to hurry stuff. He has a laser sharp arm, he can put it in there, he's just got to be a little bit more on timing. He's going to get a lot better just by watching himself and getting game experience."
All five of the touchdowns scored by the No. 1 offense were against the No. 2 defense.
The No. 1 defense got into the end zone twice facing off against the No. 2 offense. Bise had a 35-yard interception return for a score on the second play of the night. Linebacker Noah Jahr picked up a fumble and ran 40 yards for the score.
Other players that stood out on the defense were linebacker Elijah Jackson and defensive end Corey Suttle.
"Elijah Jackson is always going to stand out," LePage said. "He's always in the mix, he's always around the ball. I thought Tyler Bise had a really good night. Corey Suttle can run and causes some havoc. Noah Jahr is someone who has found a home at outside linebacker."
The No. 1 defense capped off its night by going against the No. 2 offense in an overtime situation. The offense drove to the 2-yard line but had to settle for a field goal.
"I think our No. 1 defense played to their competition," LePage said. "That's one thing I'm going to address to our coaches and I'm going to address with the team. We need to look at the last two series of why the 2s were able to move the ball. It's kind of frustrating because you saw how much success our defense can have early."