With the season inching closer, the excitement for football is picking up, particularly around Greenville High School, where the Tigers dominated a pair of seven-on-sevens this week.

Wednesday’s scrimmage was the larger of the two, featuring Greenville, Beauregard, Robert E. Lee, St. Paul’s and Opelika.

Greenville blasted through Beauregard, St. Paul’s and Lee before meeting up with Opelika, the only other undefeated team, in the championship.

Even though Greenville beat Opelika 14-0 in a quarter of a spring game, the Bulldogs took the rematch 22-19.

Despite the loss, head coach Ben Blackmon said he hasn’t been hearing any smack talk from his brother Brian, who coaches Opelika.

“I think he realizes that this was a seven-on-seven and the spring game was in full pads,” Blackmon laughed.

After the skill players faced each other, the linemen got a chance to square off against each other.

“We’ve done that kind of thing at a college camp before,” said offensive lineman Berry Bess. “We went one-on-one, which is different, because we work as a unit in a game.”

On Thursday, Greenville faced Luverne and Andalusia and came away with victories over both those teams.

The Greenville JV went 1-2.

“We’re really starting to compete more,” Blackmon said. “We’re playing as a team, we’re running the right routes — that’s all due to repetition.”

“We put it all in in the spring, and we’ve been practicing it all summer,” he continued. “We’ve been narrowing it down, and they’ve got a handle on it.”

Several Greenville players said they enjoyed the scrimmages, but still see room for improvement.

“We did pretty good, but we’ve got to be more focused when we’re tired,” said quarterback Ryan Smith. “I think that’s what hurt us against Opelika. We’ve got to execute and become a team.”

One of Smith’s main targets was Mikwese Claybourne, who made acrobatic catches both afternoons.

“I missed two easy catches against Opelika, and we’ve all got to play until the whistle blows,” Claybourne said.

Greenville’s next scrimmage will be a pre-season jamboree on August 21 against Luverne and Daleville.

“People need to come out and show us some love,” Claybourne said.