WARDSVILLE, Mo. - With a Jamboree set for Friday and the season opener just a week after that, preparations for the upcoming football season are shifting into high gear.
And while they had to ease back on the throttle for just a bit, the Blair Oaks Falcons now feel they're ready to hit the gas.
The Falcons, who started practice Monday, put a bookend on the first week with an intrasquad scrimmage Friday night at the Falcon Athletic Complex. Head coach Brad Drehle said he likes the look of his team at this early stage.
"From an overall fitness standpoint, we're in a great place," Drehle said. "The only thing that is detrimental to us is you go through that time in the summer where you're go, go, go, go, go, go. You're in the heat, you're in full pads, you're going out and hitting.
"Then you go out and take that dead week, and kids lose their conditioning three times faster than they gain it. So you take that week off and you can't contact them, you can't do weights, you can't do anything, and those kids lose that conditioning that you've built. Then you come back and try to go full speed and you end up with the nagging things, the pulled muscles and soreness, so we're fighting a little bit of that."
The dead period, mandated by the Missouri State High School Activities Association, ran from July 26-Aug. 3. Prior to that, the Falcons had a busy summer that included a number of trips to team camps. And there was plenty of work done in the Falcons' new weight room that opened this past winter.
"Our kids have done a good job, they've worked really hard all summer," Drehle said. "The weight room was a big addition for us. We saw huge improvement in our strength and our speed. It allowed us to change the way we work, so now the kids come out and they have a real focus about what they do."
The Falcons return a veteran group from a team that went 12-2, losing in the Class 2 state semifinals to Lawson. Blair Oaks graduated just eight seniors from that squad.
"Our seniors have really stepped up and we've got some juniors who are doing nice things and then we've got a sophomore or two that have really been a nice surprise," Drehle said. "We're excited about that. We may have more depth than we've had in the past, and thus some opportunities to rest some kids and rotate some kids, which is a nice thing."
The summer was a big time for certain people to step forward and stake their claims for playing time in the fall.
"We felt very good about the way our kids performed," Drehle said. "We had some young kids who stepped up and surprised us. Tanner Lueckenhoff has been a nice surprise on the defensive line, Heath Branch has been a nice surprise.
"Several of our seniors have stepped up. Jacob Wilbers has really showed well in the stuff we've done. There's a long list of those kids - Jacob Van Ronzelen, a sophomore, has done some really nice things and surprised us with his speed and athleticism.
"Then C.J. (Closser) and Adam Schell and Mikel (Drehle) and Dominic (Jamerson) and Caleb (Bischoff) do what they do.
"... Owen Luebbering has come around, Chris Cooper has done a nice job, Cole Stockman and Gavin Herst have done a nice job at linebacker, and Chance Cumpton just continues to get better."
The depth has even allowed one particularly interesting change to happen.
"We've moved Peyton Wilde from the offensive line out to receiver," Brad Drehle said. "That looks odd, but the kid can run. He's going to be a threat."
And in a nice change from last year, injuries haven't taken their toll on the squad. In fact, some of the people hampered by them last year are rounding into form this year.
"Alex Gaydos is back from his season-ending injury against Moberly last year," Drehle said. "And Levi Dial is starting to come back and he looks really good. That's a kid that's been through two major ACL surgeries, tears on the same leg. So to see him come back and begin to get healthy and start to do some things is nice for us."
The Falcons will host Friday's Jamboree, which starts at 6 p.m. Joining Blair Oaks on one end of the field will be Helias and Centralia, while the other end will feature California, Moberly and Owensville. Each team will run 18 offensive plays and 18 defensive plays against the other two schools on its end.
The Falcons will open the regular season at 7 p.m. Aug. 22 with a home game against Moberly.