Thursday afternoon Selma High School’s third year coach Woodrow Lowe, Jr., stood in the middle of chaos. The chaos was the controlled variety as his Saints were 47 plays into a 90-play scrimmage.

The Saints practice this as a way of conditioning and also a way to get used to the no-huddle offense that they run.

A normal game is 50-60 plays on both sides of the ball, Lowe added before calling the players back from a water break.

The still-young coach expects this year to be different than last year’s 3-5 mark that saw the Saints ushered out of the playoffs in the first round by the Daphne High Trojans 55-16 DHS jumped out to a 42-0 lead before the Saints could tack on a touchdown. Daphne advanced to face Central-Phenix City the next week in the AHSAA State Playoffs.

This Spring, however, the Saints seem to be more focused on success.

This year, the Saints return a roster with 17 starters from last season.

Of them, Lowe highlighted Quinn Parnell at wide receiver, Cajun Pritchett at quarterback and Steven Woods in the backfield.

Lowe is also going to look to his offensive line to be one of the strongest pieces of a successful puzzle.

The Saints will have opportunity to see how spring practices have gone when they travel down Tuskeegee on May 13 to participate in a four a team jamboree hosted by the Eagles.

The Saints will compete with Booker T. Washington, Elmore County and Sidney Lanier.

Selma will open its season with cross-town rival Southside High on August 26 and will be played at Memorial Stadium as a home game for the Saints.

From there, SHS will face a schedule of Prattville, Sidney Lanier, George Washington Carver, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis High School.

Lowe is looking for Prattville and Carver to be the toughest teams they play next season.