Before they take the field for games that count, Warren Central and St. Aloysius will play one that doesn’t.

The Vikings and Flashes are among dozens of Mississippi teams that will participate in jamborees and scrimmages tonight, one week before the start of the regular season.

Warren Central will play Jackson Academy and Lamar School at 6 p.m., at Jackson Academy. WC will play a quarter each against the two Mississippi Association of Independent Schools teams, and its junior varsity will play Jackson Academy for two quarters.

St. Al will scrimmage against St. Andrew’s at 6 p.m. at Millsaps College in Jackson. The varsity squads will play one half, and the junior varsity will play one quarter.

Vicksburg High will not play a jamboree. Porters Chapel won’t play this week, but did host a jamboree with Tallulah Academy and River Oaks last weekend.

Warren Central coach Josh Morgan said the jamboree offers his entire program an opportunity to ease into the flow of the season.

“It’s like a game rehearsal,” Morgan said. “We’re going to get everybody situated, from the managers to the way we want to do the pregame, and hopefully get all the kinks ironed out. It’ll also help with seeing game speed.”

St. Al coach B.J. Smithhart said seeing live action will also help him scout his team and see what areas need to be addressed in the final week of preseason practice. The Flashes open the regular season next Friday at Madison-St. Joe.

“You’re just getting everybody on film and running the base plays,” Smithhart said. “You just want to find the best 11 for next Friday.”

The addition of preseason jamborees, which include several teams, and two-team scrimmages are a relatively recent addition to the Mississippi High School Activities Association’s calendar. They were approved by the MHSAA less than a decade ago.

It didn’t take long for Morgan to become a fan.

“It’s basically an extended practice, and it’s not a bad idea,” Morgan said. “If it’ll help the next week, I’m all for it. If we make one less mistake next week because of it, I’m all for it.”