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COLUMBUS—Polk County’s new kids hung tough Friday evening.

The Wolverines debuted a lineup full of new faces and held their own with 4A McDowell in a two-quarter scrimmage in G.M. Tennant Stadium.

A steamy evening added to the challenge for a Polk squad that once again will have nearly everyone playing on both sides of the ball. But the Wolverines still fought to a 12-12 tie, putting together a pair of sustained scoring drives for their two touchdowns.

“We’re ahead offensively of where we were last year at this point as in execution and everything,” said head coach Dustin Fry. “A pretty simple game plan today and some guys couldn’t get lined up right on a very simple game plan, but overall, very happy with our execution.

“I thought our defense did a good job playing against those big boys up front. You’d like to see a little bit more push when they get tired, you’d like to see a little bit more of a better attitude as they wear down. So that’s something we’ve got to take care of over the next two weeks.”

Polk County’s two scores came on a short run by Lorenzyo Sanchez and a short fourth-down pass from Gunnar Alm to Aaron Dickey. Karson Scruggs contributed a couple of pass receptions in his debut, with Dickey, Nolan Simpson and Billy Booker also key targets for Alm. Sanchez and Donte Tingling handled work in the backfield.

McDowell scored on a long touchdown pass, then picked up a score in the final 30 seconds following a Polk interception.

“There are definitely some things I would have done differently if it wasn’t a (scrimmage),” Fry said. “I wouldn’t have thrown (in the final minute). Just trying to put some things on film. But very happy with the execution of being able to run the ball a little bit. That was nice to see even though we were against the big kids, and we would have done that a bit more.

“I was happy with Gunnar’s first session. He’s got some little intricacies to learn of knowing the situation and knowing the (down and distance), but very happy overall with the progress.”

Polk County is set to conclude its preseason next Friday at East Henderson before traveling August 23 to Madison for its season opener.