TERRELL LESTER Column

Scouting around ... As high school football heads into its final week of preparation for a new season, most players and coaches can look back on August and think, “Well, that wasn’t so bad.”

Temperatures have been routinely below average this month. When the preps hit the field for the first official day of practice on Aug. 12, temperatures were in the low 80s, perhaps 20 degrees below normal.

Foyil coach Trent Worley says the “cooler” temperatures can be both bane and boon.

“With it being not quite as warm, kids can focus better, which, in turn, means we get more out of practice, which I feel, in turn, makes us a better team,” he was saying the other day.

“Yes, there is some value to practicing in the heat, overcoming that adversity, and adapting, and being tough.

“But, also, at some point, you’ve got to become a better football team. Not just a bunch of tough guys.” ...

From the Take It Easy on Me Department comes the tale of Jericho Scott. He’s the 9-year-old flame-thrower from New Haven, Conn., who’s been told that he is too good to play baseball against his own age-group.

Jericho is blessed with a 40-mph fastball. That’s apparently a little too fast for most of the adults who have organized the Youth Baseball League of New Haven. Parents say he throws so hard that they’re were worried about the safety of their children. Some parents have suggested that Jericho play another position.

These parents must be distant relatives of the Oklahomans who want to reduce the number of high schools in some classifications so their children won’t have to compete against a school too large. You know the ones. The ones who say, well, our school is the lowest-ranked school in Class So-and-So, and we think it’s unfair that we have to play a, say, Broken Arrow or a Union when their enrollment is twice what ours is.

Oklahoma has eight classifications for football, and some people, coaches included, want even more classes. A more level playing field, is the phrase they have coined.

In New Haven, the community league in which Jericho is playing has no affiliation to Little League or any other sanctioning body. The league, in its third year, is made up of more than 100 boys and girls from New Haven neighborhoods. There is a division for ages 8-10, another for ages 10-12. League officials say they make their own rules and bylaws based on the experience and skill of the players.

No one took into consideration, obviously, that Jericho Scott has a little more skill than other players.

He’s better, so let’s push him out of our league.