photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Team Chesty running back Noah Richardson sheds a tackle on the first drive of Wednesday night's LHS football scrimmage.

Lawrence High School football’s Wednesday night scrimmage featured turnovers, deep bombs, big runs and lots of smack talk — just like a real Friday night in the fall.

The team got a taste of game action by splitting into Team Lion, which wore white practice jerseys, and Team Chesty, which wore gray practice jerseys.

“We’ve been practicing hard all summer to get some game-like situations,” rising junior Team Lion defensive end Devin Foster said. “It helps us prepare a lot for the Friday nights because when you’re just practicing, the intensity is a lot different.”

Team Chesty started with the ball, but their first drive stalled out around the Lion 20-yard line in a 15-play drive. Some early issues on offense for the Chesty team were due to Foster, who generated several would-be sacks and pressures.

Starting senior quarterback Banks Bowen led Team Lion on the first scoring drive of the game with a touchdown pass to Jaylen Parks. The Lions added a second score on a pick-6.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Team Lion quarterback Banks Bowen looks downfield on a pass play during Wednesday night’s LHS football scrimmage on the Lawrence High School football field.

The Chestys scored their first touchdown with quarterback Adric Watson leading downfield and scoring on a quarterback run from inside the 5-yard line.

For the next few possessions, both teams scored on long drives. After a few driving plays for the Lions, Bowen threw a deep pass from around the 40-yard line to the end zone. Chesty wide receiver Jaxon Becker took a slant 60 yards to the house. He remarked on the sideline that it was the fastest he’d ever run.

“It was good to go best-on-best and trying to get better every day,” Becker said.

The Lions responded with another touchdown pass, this time to Caleb Wingerd. On the drive, Bowen looked like he had scored a long touchdown on a run, but the play was called back to the 35-yard line for only a first down.

On the first Chesty offensive play after Becker’s touchdown, he caught a screen pass that he took to the house but was called back for stepping out of bounds on the Lions sideline. Nevertheless, the Chesty team continued to march down the field and scored when Ethan Curry took an outside run to the house.

For the first time all night, the Lions failed to score on a drive after stalling out around midfield. The Chestys took advantage by equalizing the score with four touchdowns each. Tight end Wyatt Hendricks caught the touchdown pass after a Lions defensive back batted the ball away from the intended receiver.

The Lions started to drive downfield for what would be a game-winning drive and made it all the way to inside the 10-yard line. Bowen threw the ball just above the intended receiver, and Chesty defensive back Kavon Price intercepted it and ran it back for a game-winning touchdown.

Team Lion scored four times, three on offense and one on defense, and Team Chesty scored five times, four on offense and one on defense.

“We just never gave up,” Becker said. “We stayed determined. That’s going to happen on Fridays, so we just have to keep fighting and slowly chip away.”

The game showed many positives for the entire LHS football team. The receiving group on both sides made many plays. Becker, a rising junior, said that the receiver room is much deeper than last year.

Those big pass plays didn’t come against the team’s top-of-the-depth-chart defensive backs, which was something coach Clint Bowen needed to see.

“I thought our corners played well,” Bowen said. “The three kids we’re counting on to cover people at corner did a nice job tonight and played well. I wanted to see them make some plays on the ball, and they did.”

The team will have a couple of weeks off before starting back up at the beginning of August. From there on, coach Bowen said they’ll have to focus on the conditioning before the season starts in September.

“I feel great about getting our install in,” Bowen said. “We’ve been through our install three times now, and we’ll get two more. We have to come down now to how good of shape we can get in and how fast we can play in and can we become a physical team.”