Porters Chapel Academy’s offense had more vanilla than most ice cream shops. Its defensive scheme consisted of “find the ball, cover this guy, and go make the tackle.”

With only two weeks of spring practice and a new coach at the helm, that was more or less to be expected. The strange thing was that it actually worked pretty well, all things considered.

PCA wrapped up spring practice Saturday — its first under new head coach Blake Purvis — with a controlled scrimmage against Clinton Christian. The Eagles only scored one touchdown in four offensive series, but forced three turnovers on defense and felt afterward like they were heading in the right direction.

“It’s way better than last year. We were playing for ourselves last year, and now we’re coming together as a team. We’re going to have a way better year this year,” freshman linebacker Josh Hunt said. “We were filling up holes. We got some turnovers. I’ve got a good feeling about this. It feels like a different atmosphere.”

Clinton Christian technically won the scrimmage, 18-6, but no official score was kept. Clinton Christian scored twice on its second offensive possession, on an 18-yard run by Taylor Guthrie and a 52-yard pass from J.D. Morton to Brendan Buchanan. Ryan Sanders added a 2-yard TD run during a red zone possession.

PCA’s lone touchdown was on a 1-yard pass from Garrett Hutchins to Josh Arias during a red zone possession.

Each team had three sets of 10 plays starting at its own 40-yard line, and then one regular possession starting the other team’s 20.

Hutchins completed 7 of 10 passes for 35 yards and a touchdown, and Leon Simms ran the ball six times for 48 yards for PCA.

PCA ran two of its three 10-play possessions with its first-team offense. One ended at the Clinton Christian 37, and another at 19-yard line. The second string played the third series and gained less than 10 yards while turning it over twice.

Considering the limited offense the Eagles were working with, no one involved seemed too discouraged by that.

“We had eight offensive plays we were using, and in reality we had to run 40 plays. So they were reading our plays every time and we were still driving down the field on them,” Hutchins said. “We drove farther on this one drive than we did in a half of games last year. It just showed us we can do it. If we can score with eight plays and our A- and B-teams swapping out, there’s no reason we can’t score in a regular game.”

The limited playbook was mostly by design, Purvis said. The Porters Chapel alum was hired away from Brookhaven Academy in March and said he tried to use the spring to lay down a foundation for his program.

The fancier wrinkles will be added during summer workouts and in the preseason.

“That was the plan, was to take basic plays and run them over and over and get them on film so we can look at them and find our strengths and weak areas,” Purvis said. “We moved the ball well. We didn’t necessarily have a goal line offense, so we stumbled a little bit when we got down there. Being vanilla and moving the ball with no scenarios set up, it was very encouraging in that aspect.”

His players seemed encouraged, too. While milling around after the scrimmage, several remarked amongst themselves how much they felt the team had already improved. PCA finished 1-9 last season — its worst record since 1993 — but will only lose two starters.

Hunt said the team has confidence in its new coach to lead them out of the pit and back to prominence.

“I think he knows what he’s talking about. He’s going to take us places,” Hunt said. “He makes us do what he says the first time. That’s what I like about him, is that discipline.”

The scrimmage ended a few plays early and on a somber note when PCA linebacker Jake Arias was injured during the red zone portion. Arias was hurt while trying to tackle Sanders, and took a helmet-to-helmet hit. He remained on the field for nearly 30 minutes and was eventually taken to the hospital by an ambulance.

Purvis said that was a precautionary measure, however.

Arias was conscious and alert the whole time and had feeling and movement in his extremities. He was complaining of back and neck pain while trainers tended to him.

The injury happened on the first play of the final series.

Each team was scheduled to have one last goal line possession starting at the other’s 10-yard line, but coaches from both sides agreed to call the game once it appeared Arias’ injury was more serious than first thought.

“He was moving everything and had good mental function. It wasn’t his head or anything, and he was improving the longer he was out there,” Purvis said.