The spread offense has been the focus of Fort Dale Academy since the beginning of spring drills.

But when it comes to situational scrimmages, the Eagles have been lining up a power formation like they have in the past and just run over their opponents.

Playing on a rain-soaked turf, the Eagles split time working on their new spread offense and their trademark power rushing game against Wilcox Academy.

"You see we did well in the power formation, but we need to improve on the spread stuff," said Eagles coach James "Speed" Sampley.

The Eagles also have been plagued with injuries. A quarter of their starting players were standing along the sideline in shorts and T-shirts because of injury.

The list grew midway through the scrimmage when senior Josh Waller went down after a

Wildcat helmet crashed into the back of his knee.

"We can't help injuries," Sampley said. "Some people ask why we even scrimmage. Well, we could scrimmage each other have have 22 players out there instead of 11."

While Fort Dale is trying to fine tune its offense, Wilcox Academy defensive coordinator Todd Cooper is searching for the right players to retool his defense.

The Wildcats return just five starters on defense, while nine starters are back on offense.

"We needed to get our young kids out there to see where they can play," Cooper said. "Right now they just need to be physical. If they are physical, then they can play."

Wilcox Academy opens the season at home Aug. 26 against Monroe Academy, while Fort Dale travels to Sparta.