Joseph Chavez has seen enough of his teammates.
At least, he’s seen enough of them when he’s looking up from a three-point stance.
Tonight, when Odessa High’s senior defensive end digs his hand into the turf and pulls his head up, he’ll look across the line of scrimmage to see a welcome sight.
“We finally get to hit somebody new,” Chavez laughed.
The same excitement goes across the Bronchos football team, which is set and ready to scrimmage with El Paso Montwood at 7 tonight at Eagle Stadium in Van Horn.
After a long spring, a long summer and a long couple weeks of two-a-days, tonight marks the Bronchos’ first chance to line up against new opponents and test their mettle against players from another team since last November.
For Odessa High, the preseason scrimmage is a welcome challenge ahead of the team’s regular-season opener set for Aug. 31 at Lubbock Monterey.
“We get that real, first, live, live action,” junior Bronchos quarterback Trey Smith said alongside Chavez after the team’s practice Wednesday.
“We’re tired of beating up on each other. We want some real contact, finally, against someone else. It’s a good opportunity for us.”
Yes, finally, the Bronchos will have a chance to get a good look at just how far they’ve come since last November — and get a little bit clearer picture of how the 2017 season is going to start for them.
“It’s finally here,” Bronchos senior C.J. Washington said. “We finally get to show what we’ve been working on all summer, all offseason.”
As it is with most teams going in August, Odessa High head coach Danny Servance said the scrimmage should mark a pivotal point in the preseason for the Bronchos.
For the first and last time before the regular season kicks off, Servance and his coaches will have a chance to see their 2017 squad in a game-like scenarios against a full opposing varsity squad.
“It is crucial. It’s a measuring stick,” Servance said. “You really want to see your guys against other people. We’ve gotten a good look out of our scout teams, but nothing like game speed. You really can get an up-close and personal view of what you really have for the upcoming season.
“So we’re excited. You go through two-a-days and you beat on each other, and then finally, you say, ‘Wow, we get to go against someone other than our own teammates.’ I think they’re excited about that.”
As Servance notes, practice is one thing — but stepping into a gameday scenario is completely different.
“The most important thing is you want to see carry-over from practice to a game-type situation,” he said. “We’ve been watching film, then we’ve been going out and getting them so many reps at the different plays that we’re going to see, both out of Monterey and Montwood.
“It’s good to see those kids in that type of position where they’re going against the actual scheme instead of scout team guys just trying to emulate the scheme.”
As the old adage goes, teams usually make their biggest improvements from Week 1 to Week 2.
For Odessa High, and teams across the state going through preseason tune-ups, the hope is a scrimmage can offer a head start on that jump — and push the team forward from the preseason to Week 1.
By putting it all out there into game-like action for the first time, Odessa High has a chance to see what it’s working with from a new perspective, and see it all again from the film room.
With the scrimmage on tape — and with the power of rewind in hand — Servance, offensive coordinator Dean Garza and defensive coordinator Matt Anastasio will soon have another way of teaching their visual learners on the squad in a way they can’t on the practice field.
“Coach (Anastasio) always says, ‘The eye in the sky don’t lie,’” Chavez said. “If you do something wrong, the film is going to catch it — and that’s perfect, because if you do something wrong, that’s something you need to correct it and get better at.”
That’s the goal for Odessa High tonight, to put everything out on the field and see how it looks.
Either way, the Bronchos are relishing the chance to do just that.
“I know, especially these defensive guys out here, who’ve been itching to hit me — I think they’re ready to actually get a chance to actually hit a quarterback now,” Smith said with a laugh.
The Odessa High and Montwood subvarsity squads are set to take to the field at 5 p.m., while the varsity teams are set to start their joint workout at 7 p.m.
“It’s anxious, to see how we’re going to look this season,” Chavez said. “But we’re ready. I feel like we’re ready.
“I have faith in my team that we’re going to go out and we’re going to play our hearts out no matter what — every game, every down.”
And even every scrimmage?
“Every scrimmage,” he agreed with a laugh.
“It don’t matter. If we’re on the field, it’s what we’re going to do.”
