By CURTIS ROCKWELL

Item Sports Editor

CARRIERE — Pearl River Central wrapped up an encouraging spring training session with a win 14-7 over East Central last week.

The Blue Devils will be entering their fourth season under the tutelage of head coach Jeremy Weir this fall, and the former PRC standout sees some good things heading into the summer workouts.

“I was pleased with how hard the kids played against East Central,” Weir, whose team went 2-8 last season, said. “It may be as hard as they have played since I have been here. East Central has always been known as a very scrappy, hard working team and I thought we out worked them and were more scrappy, so that was really encouraging.”

Quarterback Tyler Lee, who will be at the helm of the new spread offense that PRC has installed next season, threw a scoring pass to Jake Smith and Lance Powers scored a rushing touchdown against the Hornets.

“We had some young guys step up for us this spring that I hope will carry over,” Weir added. “And our defense played really well not only in the game but just about all spring.”

Weir cited young linebacker Cody Smith for his play throughout the spring, as well as lineman P.J. Taylor who will be an offensive lineman as well as a defensive end.

In addition, the head coach singled out wide receiver/defensive back Garrett Penton and running back Bruce Smith for their efforts in the spring.

Weir is excited about the possibilities his new spread offense has with some fine tuning over the summer.

“We have to continue to work on the passing game, because going to the spread is such a big change for us,” Weir added. “We will be participating in a lot of seven-on-seven camps this summer. We will also be getting into the weight room a lot.

“Overall I think we got a lot of positives out of the spring, and the way we played in the game gave us a good effort going into the summer.”