ORONO — For the Maine football team, there was a purpose in Tuesday’s intrasquad scrimmage at Alfond Stadium.

There were a few purposes, actually. The coaching staff continued to evaluate player personnel and define player depth at each position, while the players continued to compete for positions.

But 11 days before their Sept. 3 opener at home against Bryant, the key for the Black Bears was to refine how they responded in game situations, whether it was the two-minute drill or on a kickoff return.

“Today’s scrimmage was to get a picture of what’s upcoming next week,” sophomore running back Terrel Walker said. “We want to put people in positions to see what they can do, and we had four-minute and two-minute drills, we wanted people to stay in-bounds and we want to see who has their head on straight and who can do their jobs.”

Offensive lineman Steven Shea summed up the Black Bears’ goal before their first game.

“I’ve got to get better,” the senior from Nokomis High said. “We’ve all got to get better. It’s a never-ending game to strive for that perfection, but it’s hard to attain.”

Coach Jack Cosgrove emphasized situational work in the Black Bears’ second scrimmage of the preseason, designed to simulate a game.

“You only get an opportunity here a couple of times in preseason to get CAA officials, and to get all of the parts and elements of a game setting worked out,” Cosgrove said.

“We wanted to practice that four-minute and two-minute drill, practice overtime and just driving the football, and playing not only the drive and distance factors and the field-zone factors, but the time on the clock. Just to create game-like situations that we can’t do in practice as effectively. You need officials, you need chain gangs and you need all the things you had out here (Tuesday).”

Rotating with Chris Treister for most of the snaps, senior quarterback Warren Smith finished 15 of 23 in passing for 151 yards and a touchdown.

While he struggled early, Smith established his rhythm in the fourth series he played in, completing 6 of 9 passes for 72 yards. On second-and-7 from the 29, Smith threw incompletions on the next two plays, but on fourth-and 7, found Roosevelt Boone in the middle of the field for the touchdown.

“The first series, the defense did a good job of locking us down and stopping the run,” Smith said. “But the one series where I threw the ball to Roosevelt for a touchdown, I was seeing the coverage well, I knew who my open receivers were and it was just pitch-and-catch.

“But we need that every drive. We can’t have drives where we’re all there and then we’re all not there. We’ve just got to be consistent. That’s the biggest thing.”

Playing in an overtime situation starting from the 25, Smith took the first carry for 9 yards before handing off twice to Walker to reach the 4. On second-and-goal, Walker pushed into the end zone to end the scrimmage.

“We’re testing to see how well we work together,” said Walker, who had 41 yards on 14 carries. “If we can execute, that’s what we need. Everyone doing their job and 11 people working in one direction.”

NOTES: Treister, a Portland High graduate, finished 9 of 14 passing for 58 yards and was intercepted once by Jerron McMillian. Cosgrove said linebacker Donte Dennis, who underwent Tommy John surgery in March, won’t be available until at least midseason.

Staff Writer Rachel Lenzi can be contacted at 791-6415 or at: rlenzi@pressherald.com

Twitter: rlenzi