In the aftermath of Friday night’s Potter-Dix scrimmage, one question circulated through the crowd: what was the score?

“I’ll say 57-27,” guessed co-head coach Joe Martin, who headed the team in white jerseys. “I think we lost by 30.”

No matter—inter-squad games don’t count. Besides, the coaches and fans had plenty to consider once the dust settled, including the strong passing arm of Luke Johnson, the arrival of his exciting back up, freshman Tyler Magninie, a running game—in the form of Anthony Valbusch and Caleb Shaw—behind powerful Cody Aure, some big hits leveled by Clay Bogert and a surprise hook and ladder play that broke for a 60 yard touchdown for Dale Frerich’s black squad.

“We just thought we’d get coach Martin with his own medicine,” explained Bryant Knigge.

Martin fancies himself a trick play specialist, at least according to the good-natured jibing after Brady Knigge skipped across the goal line. The elder Knigge completed the transaction, which started when Magninie hit the younger brother with a perfect strike.

“We ran it quite a bit at camp,” Brady Knigge pointed out, shrugging off the near flawless execution of the play.

Coach Frerichs was clearly pleased with the effort put out by his charges in a pre-season contest. The only mistakes he noted were “just little things that are correctible.”

But his record setting perfectionist quarterback, Johnson, appeared less accepting of praise. His side—the whites—endured several dropped passes and breakdowns before launching a comeback, spurred by sure-handed receiver Kyle Gorsuch.

“We started down but played well overall—better in the second half,” Johnson observed.

Twice in the second half the lanky signal caller turned broken plays into long touchdown runs. In one case he seemingly eluded the entire black jersey defense.

“That’s a new aspect of my game,” he joked.

Johnson turned his newfound scrambling ability into another weapon when he tucked the ball, broke toward the sideline then suddenly drilled a pass to Gorsuch, falling over the line with his feet planted in bounds.

Magninie’s team benefitted from the presence of the Knigge brothers, as well as pounding runs by Shaw. But the young quarterback was something of a revelation, completing four scoring strikes of more than 30 yards, the first to Trevor Harms.

“That one felt really good,” Magninie said. “It was a fun game.”

He showed veteran poise late in the scrimmage in an errant snap sailed over his head and bounced into his own end zone. Instead of conceding a safety, the freshman corralled the ball, dodged pursuit and ran it back to the 10 yard line.

Another welcome addition to the Coyotes arsenal was Anthony Valbusch, a transfer barred from playing varsity football last season. Time after time he punctured the black defense for double-digit gains.

“I just did as best as I could,” he explained. “It felt good to be back in pads.”

With Aure sidelined by a slight strain, the coaching staff planned to rely on Valbusch.

“We knew he would be very good,” Martin said.

Ethan Hinrichs also contributed some strong runs, in addition to solid defensive play. Bogert recorded at least one sack and Bryant Knigge quelled a white drive with an interception in the end zone.

Potter-Dix opens their 2012 campaign at home against Creek Valley on Friday night.

“We’re ready to quit hitting each other, ready to play someone else,” Frerichs said.