The Mathews High School football season has begun.

The Blue Devils, under first-year head coach Ken Hardcastle, got their first taste of competition on Friday night when the varsity and junior varsity teams hosted the Cumberland Dukes in a pre-season scrimmage.

The scrimmage consisted of two halves lasting about 30 minutes each. The first half was all varsity, and the second half for both teams was played by their junior varsities.

In the scrimmage, the Devils showed two different offenses and defenses that both played pretty well. It was blazing hot, so about every 10 minutes, players from both teams would retreat to their sidelines to catch their breath and hydrate.

In the scrimmage there were many standout players for Mathews. On the varsity squad, Stuart Anderson had about 30 rushing yards as first-string quarterback. On defense, Anderson had three tackles at safety. Elijah Willis had about 30 receiving yards, and as corner on defense completed six tackles.

Jarius Monroe picke...