PORT ARTHUR — Two Mid-County school and one from South County are halfway through the final week of fall camp. That means Week Zero preparations are almost in sight. Still, all three schools have a scrimmage to get ready for and practices to answer some questions about their teams before the regular season begins.

For Port Neches-Groves, that Week Zero matchup against Silsbee and this week’s scrimmage against Texas City will be a welcome sight, after getting a little too familiar with each other in practice.

“It’s definitely time for us to play someone else,” PN-G head coach Brandon Faircloth said. “We’ve had some more energy this week, with the anticipation of playing someone else. I think the defense knows all of our signals, where we’re going to line up and what we’re going to run. They can flip over and run our plays. The offense, too, knows exactly where the defense will be, so it’s been a good chess match. I’m tired of playing that chess match against our defense.”

One of the challenges for the Indians this fall has been waking up. PN-G starts the day at 6 a.m. for their morning practices to beat the heat. Overall, the team has done well with the early morning workouts, but some players have had trouble adjusting their sleep routines.

“It’s really been a focus issue,” Faircloth said. “We’re requiring a lot of them. As a team, we’ve done really well. We’ve got some individuals who don’t get enough sleep at night and come out dragging a bit. The afternoon practices have been better, because they’ve woken up by then.”

Port Arthur Memorial head coach Kenny Harrison said his team is dealing with the same soreness issues as everyone else after four days of padded practices. But, he likes what he’s seen so far, especially how his team has fought through it and still played well.

“I feel pretty good about how the team has looked and am pleased with how much they’ve retained from the spring,” Harrison said. “They’ve picked up where they left off in pads. I think they’re getting tired of going up against each other, though, so they’re ready to play someone different.”

Part of Harrison’s positive outlook comes from an intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday. He said that C.J. Levine, Walter Oliver and Devin Cockrell all stood out for thier play then.

“All three of those guys had a very good scrimmage,” Harrison said. “C.J. Levine in our bandit spot, Walter Oliver on the defensive line and Devin Cockrell in the secondary all stepped up. I think our offense is a little ahead of our defense right now, but we’re pleased with where everyone’s at. Our special teams is also looking very good, which is a positive sign right now.”

Nederland, on the other hand, is coming off a slightly disappointing showing in its first scrimmage against a very good West Orange-Stark team. The Bulldogs came out with a purpose in this short week, preparing for Thursday’s second scrimmage at Dayton.

“What is true always is you’re never as bad as you thought and you’re never as good as you thought,” Nederland head coach Larry Neumann said. “That held true. The issues that I suspected after the game were there. We’ve got a short week, so we can’t fix everything, but we’re going to do some things and hope we can see progress against Dayton.”

While the defense looked to be a strength for the Bulldogs, there were plenty of areas that needed improving before Nederland takes the field against Crosby in two weeks.

“Number one, run blocking, we have to get better there,” Neumann said. “We really stressed focus. I’m not alarmed by the dropped passes, until it becomes an issue every time we play. You can’t tell me the guys that dropped those passes can’t catch, because they do it in practice and they did it last year. Our performance against West Orange-Stark wasn’t on par for a game performance, so we need to get better there.”

PN-G by way of San Angelo

The Indians got a pleasant surprise this summer when Robert Dawson moved into the district all the way from San Angelo. As a sophomore, Dawson played good minutes for San Angelo Central, a team that went 9-3 last year and made the area round of the playoffs. Dawson had 42 tackles for Central last season and looks to be a contributor this year for the Indians.

“He’s coming along fine,” Faircloth said. “He’s a smart kid. Obviously, he started last year for a 5A school, so he’s a good player. He’s a good teammate and getting along with everyone. We’re excited to have him here.

Dawson’s addition also freed the Indians up to move Dalton Peveto back to safety. Dawson hasn’t been penciled into the starting lineup, but that’s also about how tough it has been to evaluate defensive players right now.

“He doesn’t know our offense as well as everyone else, so it’s hard to tell,” Faircloth said. “It’s hard to evaluate some positions because of that familiarity. Can you drop and get under a curl because you can do it, or because you know it’s already there. When we play someone else, we’re going get a look at how good some individual kids are.”

Titan-ic offensive line

If you’re looking for a question mark with the Titans this season, start at the offensive line. Only center Toan Nguyen returns from last year’s line, with a handful of sophomores and juniors (and a senior) in the mix to fill the other starting spots.

“Our offensive line is starting to jell a little,” Harrison said. “We’re seeing some consistency there.”

Harrison singled out senior Brenden Vaughn as a guy forcing himself into the discussion as one of the starters. The 6-foot-2, 300 lb. Vaughn has been working at both guard spots and at right tackle.

The other players in the hunt for starting spots are junior Selah Fontenot and sophomores Vernon Samuels, Jayvon Wright and Dekovin Antoine.

Couron a stand-up guy

Nederland fans watching closely last Friday saw an unusual sight. Starting defensive end Koby Couron, who might be the tallest player on the field for his team, took quite a few snaps from a two-point stance, while still lined up over the tackle.

That’s generally how a linebacker sets up at the line, and it’s not typical to see a pass rusher like Couron setting up that way. However, Neumann said it was because of the scheme Nederland saw against WO-S.

“It was because of the scheme,” Neumann said. “With a spread team with a running back in the backfield, he’ll go into a two point stance. He’s been very solid for us this year. He’s doing a great job out there, along with everyone on that defensive line.”