Tahlequah was nearly flawless on both sides of the ball in its first scrimmage Friday against Grove at Doc Wadley Stadium. The offense shined on big plays, and the defense created chaos. The Tigers' offense -- quarterbacked by both Tate Christian and Simeon Armstrong -- got into the end zone three times. Two of the scoring drives came in large chunks and the third was a clean march of the field. The Tigers' defense -- led by a stout front seven -- gave little ground and held the Ridgerunners scoreless. "The effort and the physicality of how we played was pretty good tonight," Tahlequah head coach Brad Gilbert said afterwards. "Of course we've got to continue to get better in areas, but it was a pretty good first scrimmage. We saw a lot of the older guys, the experienced football players, do what we expected them to do, and a lot of the young guys did some things that were pretty good as well." "Coming out of the scrimmage, the first thing is we're healthy," Gilbert added. "The second thing is we executed. For the most part we executed at a pretty high level." It didn't take long for junior running back Dae Dae Leathers to leave a strong impression. Behind an experienced offensive line that features Nick Grasshopper, Blake Corn, Brandon Davis, Hayden Napier and Aidan Yahola, Leathers raced 70 yards around the left side for a score on Tahlequah's first offensive snap. "Dae Dae is Dae Dae," Gilbert said. "He's going to give us those big plays. We've got to do things that he feels comfortable with." Christian, a junior move-in from Pauls Valley, later hooked up with junior wide receiver Jaxon Jones for a 67-yard TD, and Armstrong scored from five yards out on on option play for the final points. Both Christian and Armstrong were sharp from behind center. "I thought our two quarterbacks performed pretty well for their first scrimmage" noted Gilbert. "We tried to put them in manageable situations and give them opportunities to be successful. I thought they both managed the team well when they were on the field." On the Tigers' second series, Armstrong completed his first pass attempt to Jones, and Christian did the same after rolling to his right and connecting with Kobey Baker for 12 yards. Running back Simon Escalera added a nine-yard run for a first down, and Christian found Jones for 12 yards to move the chains again. Christian added a 35-yard completion to senior receiver Cole Goodnight on the final play of the scrimmage. Tahlequah was just as impressive on defense. The Tigers forced two turnovers -- a caused fumble by defensive end Isaac Strain and recovery by Corn, and an interception by sophomore linebacker Carson Ferguson. Grove was limited to just one first down. The Tigers forced four three-and-outs and also had pass breakups from Leathers and Danny Lopez. "They swarmed to the football and that's what we want to see, that 9-5-9 motto that they live by," Gilbert said. "You saw that tonight. It's just fun to watch them when they're executing at a high level and they did that tonight. Hopefully we can continue with that level of play every day that they have an opportunity to get better." The Tigers will travel to Hilldale for their second scrimmage on Aug. 24. The season opener is Aug. 31 at Fort Gibson.