The blaring of whistles and the popping of pads echoed throughout Walker County on Monday as high school football teams officially began pre-season practice for the upcoming season.

Teams caught a break as overcast skies and cool breezes kept down heat indexes that had been forecast to be over 100 degrees.

But the cooler weather wasn’t the only reason Walker County teams seemed to have an a little more pep in their step.

“There’s a little different feel to this morning than there has been throughout the early part of the summer,” said Ridgeland head coach Mark Mariakis, whose team is coming off a second consecutive region championship. “We got some pads on and the kids are flying around the field a bit more. Then you look at the calendar and see we’re scrimmaging in less than two weeks, so there’s a little bit of urgency.”

The Panthers will be one of the favorites in the new-look Region 7-AAA, but Mariakis said there was still plenty of work that had to be done, including filling spots at quarterback and linebacker, as well as building depth on the offensive and defensive line.

“We're trying to get people in the right places, position-wise,” added Mariakis, whose team hit the field running at 8 a.m. “We’re not anywhere near ready to play a football game today, but we’re getting there. The first week (of practice) is just about getting everyone in the right positions before we go to camp. I think our starters are in pretty good shape but we’ve got to find some backups.”

Ridgeland will scrimmage at Gordon Lee on Aug. 13 before opening the season at home against Adairsville on Aug. 27.

Down in LaFayette, the Ramblers began their first official practice under new head coach Tab Gable at 3:30 p.m. and got down to business with blocking and tackling drills.

Gable also said his team could feel the upcoming season quickly approaching.

“The kids are excited and rightly so,” he said. “They can see that two weeks’ down the road they’ve got a scrimmage game, so they know why were doing what we’re doing to get ready for the season. We always start with fundamentals so we can try and become a sound football team, and that starts on line of scrimmage. Plus, conditioning is also very important.”

Gable said he hopes the Ramblers will begin to establish their identity in the first week.

“We have to establish a physical attitude,” he added. “We’ve got to knock people off the ball on offense and smack them in the mouth on defense. I’ve watched and coached against LaFayette teams since 1977, and you could always count on those teams to hit you and be physical, regardless of anything else. We’ve got to get back to that.”

There are some new faces on the coaching staff as well, including Frank Vohun, who previously had successful stints at Villa Rica and Washington-Wilkes, and former LaFayette High quarterback Matt Yarbrough, who became an All-American defensive end at Shorter University.

LaFayette will scrimmage at Chattanooga private school McCallie on Aug. 17 at 7 p.m. before opening the season at Chattooga on Aug. 27.

Some new faces can also be seen at Gordon Lee, where Kevin McElhaney’s staff has undergone a bit of a makeover since last fall.

Among the new names on the sidelines will be College Football Hall of Famer Chip Kell, and offensive coordinator Charlie Wiggins. Wiggins, an assistant at LaFayette last season, was previously the head coach at Chattanooga Notre Dame where he led the Irish to the state semifinals twice.

“We’re all still learning each other as we go, but we’ve got some good coaches, and it’s always good to have a few extra pair of eyes out there,” McElhaney said. “These guys have been around the game a long time and it’s a good staff. Now it’s just a matter of figuring how and what we need to get done and making sure we’re all on the same page as far as schemes go.”

The Trojans are installing a new spread offense this season and are trying to get all the kinks out in a hurry. Gordon Lee will host Ridgeland in a scrimmage on Aug. 13 and will play their first game of the season at home a week later against Silverdale Baptist Academy out of Chattanooga.

“We scrimmage in less than two weeks and play a game in less than three weeks,” said McElhaney, adding that identifying a starting quarterback is one of the other big priorities. “We don’t have very long to get going in practice, and we’ve got a lot to teach in a very short time. We're trying to get as much of new offense and defense in as we can.

“We had some young kids that had to play last year, and they will have to step up again. But we think we have some good young ones though. I think we’ll be OK.”