— The enemy was in the mirror, so to speak.

Such is the thing about intrasquad scrimmages that affects one’s view for evaluation, a point not lost on Muskogee coach Josh Blankenship after watching his team go against each other in a controlled 90-minute scrimmage.

“If you have your program where it ought to be, the defense should be ahead right now,” he said. “That being said, I think offensively we have the potential to have some weapons but they’ve still got to grow. We’ll know more when we go against someone else.”

Raundel Cooper scored on a 12-yard run off tackle for the first team offense, which sliced through the second-team defense with ease in two sessions. Mackenzie McCall, the move-in from Beggs, scored on a pair of touchdown runs of 15 and 12 yards.

The first-team defense pitched a shutout against both units until meeting the first-teamers a second time. Quarterback Trevor Jiles, who connected with Anthony King on a 25-yard pass earlier in the drive and Jefferson Moore for 15 on another, found King for 3 yards to ruin defensive coordinator David Heath’s aim of a perfect defense of the end zone from his primary unit.

“I don’t think we’re playing fast enough and our angles are bad but we still have two more weeks of work,” Heath said. “We were pretty basic tonight. We don’t have our whole package in. We’ve got a lot of work ahead. But I saw a lot that I liked.”

One of his concerns has been to find a free safety. Shan Bradley, the senior and first-year player whose sports prowess has been in tennis, picked off one of the first passes against the second-team offense. It was one of the small victories Heath was looking for.

“He got himself noticed right off the bat,” Heath said. “Once he knows the playbook he’ll play faster. Once he does that he might solidify it.”

The free safety being responsible for calling coverages, learning the defense is a critical factor in terms of who will emerge there.

“That’s something we’ll have to go back and watch film to see if guys were in place,” Blankenship said. “But he played well.”

Logan Stovall, a smallish sophomore battling for a defensive tackle spot in the 4-4 scheme, also caught Heath’s attention.

“He stayed down inside and held his own against our bigger offensive linemen on first team. I didn’t see him get blown off the ball,” Heath said.

Defensive end Tramal Ivy, a situational pass rusher last season who will start there this season, blocked three passes.

“If he can get used to playing down, he’s going to help us,” Heath said. “He’s got to account for the run too. He’s no situational guy anymore.”

In hunting for some receiver pieces to go with King, Blankenship saw some positives in Jerod Jones, Cantrell Ashley and Bryson Bell.

“Ashley and Bell did some good things but they did some sophomore things too,” Blankenship said. “Jerod is a junior who had some sophomore mistakes, but he’s been playing quarterback  (on JV) so he’s still learning the position.”

Adonis Talbert, another sophomore, is in that mix of youngsters.

The Roughers have their first action against an opponent not themselves on Thursday at Union. It’s the East-West Showdown involving Union, Muskogee, Midwest City and Mustang.