Teams readying for season
Prep football squads will be allowed to practice in pads for the first time Saturday.
Prep squads will be allowed to practice in pads for the first time Saturday.
Summer vacation is winding down for local students, and high school football teams are already deep into practice and conditioning as the 2015 season gets closer.
In Shannon, the Model Blue Devils are setting out to improve on their 9-3 record from a year ago by taking a workmanlike approach to summer workouts, according head coach Gordon Powers.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of fanfare about it. Our guys just showed up and worked their tails off,” Powers said. “I guess being that we’re the Blue Devils we’ve had a blue-collar summer.”
Practice has been limited to shorts and helmets up through today, per Georgia High School Association guidelines, but teams can start wearing full pads Saturday.
Part of the reason for local teams to have drills and runthroughs outside so far has been to get players acclimated to the sweltering heat and humidity.
Powers said they will pick up conditioning more next week when they plan to get out in the afternoons in full pads.
“We try to get the point across to them to get their conditioning in during practice,” Powers said.
“We’ve got to watch the heat and we’ll make modifications if we need to.”
He said they make sure players drink plenty of water and have 10-minute breaks during practice, and will have them take off their pads if conditions get above a certain level.
Model will host Pepperell in a preseason scrimmage on Aug. 14. The Blue Devils open the season on the road the following week at Lumpkin County.
Midnight in Lindale
The Pepperell Dragons are hosting an event tonight at Dragon Stadium to mark the beginning of practice in full pads.
Pepperell Football Midnight Madness will see the team — under first-year head coach Rick Hurst — take the field for an intrasquad scrimmage at 12 a.m.
The evening begins at 8 p.m. with tailgating and food trucks. Admission is $1.
Squeaky-clean debut
Rome High head football coach John Reid is bringing something new to the Wolves’ preseason as well in the form of a “Soap Game.” Scheduled for Aug. 7 at Barron Stadium, the event will feature Rome Middle School, junior varsity and varsity teams scrimmaging beginning at 5 p.m.
Spectators and fans can get into the event by bringing a new white bath towel, a can of powdered lemon lime Gatorade or a bottle of liquid laundry detergent for high-efficiency washers.
“Let’s have an opening scrimmage the first week where parents can come and see who will play, and the admission is one
of those items per family,” Reid said.
“It’s something that was very simple that turned into something very exciting.”
Reid said the idea came from his time as head coach at East Paulding where they were short on funding and needed a way to get items to last them the season.