Coaching Styles in United States Semi-Pro Soccer

I currently play for a local semi-pro team in the UPSL that practices twice a week. The team is relatively new, so I’m curious how other teams at this level structure their training.

Our practices tend to focus heavily on drills designed to get the team playing in a specific way. For example, exercises emphasizing direct wing play and crossing which has me wondering about the tradeoff between tactical drills vs scrimmaging. Obviously, a team that can recruit an army of USL-level or former pro players is going to have a significant advantage. However, for teams at this level that lack the recruiting resources and where practice time is limited, I wonder whether a coaching approach that incorporates more full-sided scrimmaging could actually produce better results.

The idea would be to prioritize building natural chemistry and improve familiarity with teammates through game situations, rather than trying to implement specific tactical ideas through drills.

For those who have played or coached in amateur/semi-pro leagues: what have you found works best? Do teams that spend more time scrimmaging tend to develop better chemistry and perform better, or are structured tactical drills more important at this level?