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WARREN - The hundreds of Warren G. Harding football fans in attendance for the Raiders' scrimmage versus Solon on Saturday saw exactly what they were looking for: an improved football team.

More importantly, so did coach D.J. Dota.

Harding, coming off a 4-6 season in 2007, held its own against Solon, which finished 9-3 in '07 and lost to Mentor, 23-13, in the second round of the Division I state playoffs. The Raiders' first-team defense allowed one touchdown while the offense matched that with a score of its own.

Harding's lone score came on a well-placed pass from quarterback Aunre Davis to wide receiver Sergio Allen, who was wide open and ran untouchded down the sideline for a 70-yard touchdown. It was the best pass of the day for Davis, who hit Allen in stride after making a few overthrows on his first few passes.

''We were hit and miss on a few of those,'' Dota said of the passing game. ''Aunre's done a great job of delivering balls. A few times we were just a hair off on our route running, and that just comes down to more reps and guys feeling it for the first time live.''

Davis is solidified as the starter after having to battle for the position last season. The 5-foot-11, 170-pound senior seemed at ease in the pocket on Saturday, but he and the receivers couldn't time up their routes - he threw well over their head on a number of deep passes. Dota said part of that was the pass protection and also it being early in the season, but he believes Davis will have a much better handle of the offense this season after starting there several games last year.

''He would have made some decisions where he would have ran the ball but we got quick-whistled, but that's part of (the scrimmage) because we were being safe on the quarterbacks,'' Dota said. ''I really liked his decision-making today and the way he performed at quarterback.''

Another good performance came from junior running back Mike Dorsey, who is battling at least three others for the starting tailback position. Dorsey was a competed with Davis at quarterback last year but moved to running back and stood out among the many candidates. He showed good vision on a sweep play in which he cut back across the field and turned what could have been a loss into a 12-yard gain.

''He was a quarterback last year, so he ran a lot of those outside plays and he does have good vision - when he sees it, he takes it,'' said Dota, who said he's going to continue to evaluate all the running backs before naming a starter. ''You watch them now and you feel pretty good about the way they played, but I'll have to watch film to see the cuts the made and all that. If anything, we're going to have to tweak a little bit here or there, like their reads or whatever. I felt pretty good about the way all those guys played.''

The defense played well early on, but had some problems slowing the running game, especially the Comets' elusive quarterback, junior Jake Voigt. The 6-foot, 185-pound Voigt eluded several players to gain 20 yards on a play that seemed to be dead when the Raiders applied pressure from the outside. He set up their lone score of the day two plays later on a well-thrown, 48-yard touch pass over the outside shoulder of his receiver. That put Solon at the Raiders' 2-yard line, and running back Juan Lemus scored on the next play.

Dota said the rush defense does need a little help, but he added that Harding certainly didn't implement many of the packages it will when the season rolls around.

''(Solon) did some good things formation-wise to us that put us in bad situations, but that's things for us to get flim work,'' he said. ''That's why you do scrimmages, so you can see what the weaknesses are that maybe you didn't see as a coaching staff. We'll watch flim and make the adjustments that we need to make.''

Those will come in the opener Aug. 23 at Shaker Heights.

NOTES: Davis picked off Voigt during the Comets' first set of plays. Voigt threw over the head of his intended receiver on a stop route and right into the hands of Davis, who returned the pick for good yardage down the sideline. ... Kyree Flowers, a 5-11, 195-pound senior, was another running back who played well. He broke off a long run during the first set of 7-on-7 plays when both teams only ran the ball. He did well during 11-on-11 as well, with his only miscue coming on a fumble after a good form tackle by a Comet defender. ... The Comets' 6-6, 250-pound junior tight end, Darryl Baldwin, who's committed to play at Ohio State, made one catch for 15 yards. ... One of the few bad throws by Davis came on a stop route that was nearly picked off by Solon corner Kevin Hicks. ... The outside pass rushing of the Raiders applied pressure for most of the scrimmage. Senior Isaiah Taylor made one of the biggest defensive plays of the day on a fourth-and-3 play when he sacked Voigt for a loss of 12 yards.

jsimon@tribtoday.com