TORRINGTON – Torrington High School football coach Russell Stienmetz knew there were going to be mistakes made, but he stressed to the team there should be no fear of failure and leaving it all on the field.

“We talked about there will be mistakes. Please just do them at 100 mph,” he said. “They made mistakes. I made mistakes. As long we learn from those mistakes and keep getting better.”

That was the main focus of Friday’s team camp at the practice fields behind Wiseman Field. The camp also featured Southeast High School and Kelly Walsh High School.

The day featured position drills and ended with a scrimmage, providing the schools an opportunity to hit someone wearing a different color of jersey for once.

One of the bright spots which left Stienmetz excited was the play of the line on both sides of the ball.

“Offense, our backs were able to get a few extra yards with those good blocks inside, and on defense, those big guys were able to keep our linebackers free so they could get to the ball and make a play,” he said.

It was the second time last week which the schools got to together as Torrington made the trip to Casper to visit Kelly Walsh.

It marks a long summer of lifting and team drills.

“We ran through drills – offense, defense – with as many kids as we could get here,” Stienmetz said. “There were days we didn’t even have a quarterback because they busy with baseball. I’m glad they are doing other sports and activities.”

Moving forward, the team will continue lifting and doing drills for the remainder of the summer.

“Made it out of this pretty injury free, so I’m excited about that,” Stienmetz said. “We’ll keep lifting and doing football skills as much as we can.”

Southeast also had a small group of five players take part in the team camp on Friday.

“We have some kids working and (Ayden Desmond) is at the College World Series,” Southeast coach Mark Bullington said. “Kids have so many things to do, but we had a few kids here and got them some reps. It’s always good to see other kids. They get to know the other kids, and that’s part of the sport. Sometimes you make a buddy and maybe friends forever.”

Matthew Chapman and Cole Sauer also took part in a camp held at Black Hills State University a few weeks ago, getting additional reps which excited Bullington.

Like Torrington, Southeast has had a busy summer lifting in the mornings on Monday, Wednesday and Friday along with doing some 7-on-7 drills on occasion in the evenings.

The Cyclones will also help put on a kids camp in July, which the details of the camp are still being worked on.

“We bring in the little kids, and the high school kids help with that,” Bullington said. “It gives us a chance to work with the high schoolers as well before that two week no contact period.”

Practice official practice begins on Monday, Aug. 14 with the first allowable contest date set for Friday, Aug. 25.