Offense shines, defense shows youth: Takeaways from Terrebonne football's spring game

Terrebonne football got its 2024 season off to an early start Thursday night as the Tigers hosted the McDonogh 35 Roneagles in the spring game.

After both teams warmed up, skill players and defenses participated in 7-on-7 drills — Terrebonne offense against 35 defense and vice versa, one pairing on each side of the field — while offensive and defensive linemen practiced blocking and pass rush drills, respectively, at midfield.

When the 7-on-7s were done, teams moved to 11-on-11 drills of the same variety: Tigers offense vs. Roneagles defense on one end of the field, Roneagles offense vs. Tigers defense on the other, before both teams began participating in the same 11-on-11 drills.

Finally, once 11-on-11s were done, the teams finally settled in for a scrimmage, with the clock set at 20 minutes and running except in cases of injury or if a team called one of its two timeouts. Each offense possessed the ball until it either scored or turned over, including turnovers on downs. There were no punts or kickoffs, but there were extra points.

Terrebonne won the scrimmage, 7-0. Here's how the Tigers looked:

Offense

Terrebonne's offense looked sharp regardless of whether it was 7-on-7, 11-on-11, or the scrimmage. The Tigers frequently struck with big plays both through the air and on the ground, with the only touchdown in the game portion coming on a 40-yard pass.

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However, Terrebonne was occasionally too reliant on explosive plays. The only turnovers of the scrimmage portion were both by the Tigers: a lost fumble and a deep interception.

Defense

This was the biggest question mark after the 2023 season for Terrebonne. The defense needed to find a way to replace seven graduated starters. In part, the Tigers did so admirably: the defensive line could get into the backfield and the secondary stopped every potential big play. However, the linebackers struggled. Whenever a Roneagle ball carrier got through the line, he could turn that into a first down before he reached the next level.

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They said it

"Overall, we did really well," THS coach Tyler Lewis said. "Much better than I anticipated. We still have things to clean up as well. Our defense has a lot of work to put in over this summer, but we should be good."

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Offense shines, defense shows youth: Takeaways from Terrebonne football's spring game