After three days of conditioning and two days of hitting each other, the Norton High football team got the opportunity to hit someone else on Saturday morning as the entire squad scrimmaged against Dighton-Rehoboth behind the Yelle Elementary School.

It was actually more of a controlled practice and scrimmage between the Lancers and the Falcons on Saturday as both squads participated in blocking, offensive and defensive drills before taking part in a quick scrimmage.

“Today I wanted to see what we had worked on for the last five days,” said Norton head coach Ted Currle. “I wanted to see how well we executed and I also wanted to see kids flying around and hitting someone. I did see some good things, but overall we were sloppy. We really didn’t execute on either side of the ball. We have a long way to go.”

It was the first good gauge of the preseason for Norton against a Dighton-Rehoboth program that has captured two consecutive South Coast Conference championships and made two straight postseason appearances.

“This was a great test for us,” said Currle. “It opened our eyes on what we need to work on, on both sides of the ball. They (Dighton-Rehoboth) have a very talented offensive line and their backs run hard.”

The linemen from the two teams took part in blocking drills, while the skill-position players participated in essentially a seven-on-seven passing drill.

The full squads then came back together with the offensive units from each team getting 10 plays against the opposing defense. After two rounds of 10 plays for each squad, the teams each got a possession in an attempt to score a touchdown. Three different quarterbacks saw action for Norton during this part of the practice/scrimmage.

Starting on its own 20 and using strictly running plays, Dighton-Rehoboth drove 80 yards on 11 plays. The possession culminated on a 13-yard touchdown run by standout fullback Bryan Rocha.

With senior Gary Portway at quarterback, Norton also began its drive at its own 20 yard line. The Lancers first had no gain on a run by Stefen Winfield before Portway was sacked for a loss of five yards. But Portway bounced back to complete a pass to the Lancer 30 for a first down.

A pair of runs by Zach Sicard advanced the football to the Norton 40 yard line. Senior fullback Joe Colley had a pair of runs before an incomplete pass from Portway to Anthony Hallgren ended the Lancer drive at their own 40.

“I thought at times we executed OK on offense,” said Currle. “When we did, we had some positive plays. I thought our quarterbacks showed some progress. Certain players on defense did a good job, while others still have some work to do. But we did not tackle well at all. We work on that all day, every day and we will continue to do so. We also have to do a better job staying on our blocks on offense.”

Norton headed back to the practice field this week and will have its second scrimmage on Friday night when the Lancers travel to Taunton to face Bristol-Plymouth at 6 p.m.

“We have a lot of new faces this year, but we will continue to work hard,” said Currle.