Cutter Morning Star held its spring football game on May 26 with its unique peanut butter and jelly entry fee.

“It went well,” head football coach Nick Finley said.

“It was a peanut butter and jelly entrance and we racked up big time. We had over 125 people there to watch our spring game, which I thought was awesome,” he said.

“Normally you go either laundry detergent, towels. We have been doing all offseason having parents donate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I have a guy and he supplies the bread and all we have to do is come up with the other stuff.”

The PB&J idea originates from when Finley was on staff with Buck James at Camden Fairview.

“It is just extra food for the kids to be able to gain some weight,” Finley said.

The CMS Eagles were led last year by then-sophomore quarterback Peyton Mills.

“Peyton was the quarterback for both teams,” Finley said. “It worked out where every receiver at least got thrown, too. They had a chance to make a play. We were just sharing the ball around a lot and that is what I wanted to do. I wanted to make sure everybody got touches and get on film.”

Mills threw for 2,122 yards and 23 touchdown passes in his first year with the Eagles and hopes to continue his air raid on defenses next season.

“I think for a lot of them the nerves were up there,” Finley said.

“We started a little bit slow, dropping some passes. I was really impressed with our run game. Our receivers got more comfortable as time went on. The guys started making some catches. There were a lot of tough catches just because the coverage was right on top of them,” he said.

“We do not by any means have our whole playbook in. We have got about 35% of our offense in and we got several formations and everything else left to do. A lot of our spread game was our focus this time. We got some new wide receivers and running backs comfortable running games and everything else.”

Senior Jock Simpson stood out at running back.

“Jock Simpson had some really nice powerful runs,” Finley said.

“He has good vision. Michael Sexton will be a junior he had a lot of good runs, caught the ball well and tackles on defense,” he said.

“Receiving-wise, Sexton had a couple of good catches and got some additional yards,” Finley said. “Drake Bissell a senior ended up catching some deep balls. He caught like a 60-yarder and got tackled at the 10. Senior Isaiah Mahone caught a couple deep balls. We had some short-route stuff. We had some goal-line plays where a couple of tight ends got involved and into the end zone.”

Being an 8-man football program, the Eagles have several players playing ironman football.

“We have been working better angles and tackling on defense,” Finley said. “I was really impressed with how we tackled and how we swarmed to the football. Our defense played really well. That was really good for us to see, because last year we would see guys wide-open with nobody within 5 yards.”

Drake Bissell shined for the defense making several tackles.

“Jock Simpson had a sack and also had some tackles,” Finley said. “Michael Sexton was in on a bunch of tackles. Taylor DeGrasse, he was in on some plays. Isaiah Mahone got in at corner and made some plays outside. Overall, those guys were flying around to the football. that gives us a lot more depth and allows guys to stay fresh to be able to swarm to the football.”

CMS used a spread defense in the spring game.

“We saw two spread teams last year,” Finley said.

“Subiaco and Rose Bud ran the spread and we are going to see those two teams next year,” he said.

“Overall, it was just a good scrimmage,” Finley said. “We came out healthy. I did not have any injuries. When you can get out of spring and everybody is healthy and everybody excited that was the main goal. We achieved that.”