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After more than a week of practice under its belt, head coach Tom Byers’ football squad is ready to hit somebody not wearing green.

The Wildcats started in helmets and shorts for the first few days of practice before going to full pads at the end of last week.

“I could tell the kids just wanted to get through those non-padded practices,” he said. “The first day seemed like the guys were trying to figure out how everything is going to work this year. But then when we hit our first pad practice I was really pleased with the energy and excitement.”

He added that the team got better with every practice and that his kids are looking healthy and ready to get things started.

“I think our kids are continuing to take what they did in the weight room and transfer it out onto the football field,” he said. “Of course we don’t know where and when that transformation is going to take place, but the guys worked hard this summer.”

The team will get its first chance to get under the lights Friday during the green and white scrimmage.

“It starts at 7 p.m., so we’ll treat it just like a normal game in terms of our preparation,” Byers said. “We might not have a full-fledged game, but we’ll look to sharpen things up. We have a big game coming up to start the season.”

The coach returns nine starters (four on offense and five on defense) for the squad’s opener against powerhouse Gardner-Edgerton.

“Our big question right now is who can step into those vital roles of the starters we lost from last season,” Byers said. “We need some guys to step up, and that’s what we’re trying to evaluate.

“(The coaches) have some good insight on where we think people will play and hopefully by Friday evening everybody will have solidified their positions.”

One spot that appears solidified is the quarterback position. The Wildcats return Logan Clark as their probable starter.

“Logan hasn’t done anything to put a question mark at QB, but we’ve got some talented kids who we will use in a variety of ways.”

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