Monday marked the official start of the 2016 high school football season, as the first day teams in the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools were allowed to conduct full workouts in helmets.

For the players and coaches who have been conditioning all summer, however, it was merely Monday and the beginning of the next phase of their preparations for the season openers three weeks from now.

“It’s more of a transition day. I guess Thursday will be when you put on the shoulder pads and it’s kind of a new day, and then next week we’ll be in full pads. And then you go,” St. Aloysius coach BJ Smithhart said. “We’re just going over the basic stuff. Stuff we tried to hit in the summer, but we’ll do it again. Some formations, alignments, things like that.”

Warren Central, Vicksburg, and teams in the Mississippi High School Activities Association begin practice Aug. 1. MAIS teams get an extra week, and will spend it transitioning from their summer conditioning program to more football-related activities.

For Smithhart and St. Al, this has been a calmer summer than in 2015. The school switched over from the MHSAA to the MAIS a year ago this week, causing the upheaval of schedules and preparation plans. After a year of adjustment, Smithhart said he’s come to appreciate what the MAIS has to offer a smaller school like St. Al.

“It’s really not that much different. They just have a couple of different dates and things like that, like they play the junior high on Thursday instead of Tuesday. It’s nothing big. A lot of the heat, and lightning and safety protocols are the same,” Smithhart said. “I think it gives our size schools a say, whereas in the other one they have to worry about all the way up to 6A and sometimes we feel like 1A might get overlooked. This one is built more specifically for us.”

Porters Chapel Academy held two practices Monday. The first, in the morning, focused on conditioning. The afternoon workout had the Eagles installing plays on offense and defense, as well as doing drill work.

Although his players have been working out four or five days a week since school let out in May, first-year coach Blake Purvis said there was a big difference in those conditioning drills and an actual practice. Teams can do more with more, he said, which provides a clearer picture of their strengths and weaknesses.

“It’s just another step. It’s good for us to get into full 11-man formations. That’s really the only thing we can’t do (in the summer),” Purvis said. “For the guys, it was good having helmets on and getting used to that. We saw some guys that we thought were in pretty good shape, and then when they got their helmet on it takes them back a couple of steps. So there’s a lot of good in that first real practice that you don’t get in the summer. You really get a better idea of where people are and what you need to work on.”

The Eagles had a few rough moments late in practice, when the heat and fatigue caused them to lose focus and the first-string offense struggled against their junior high teammates. The effort for the entire day — as well as the rest of the summer — allowed them to shake some of that off, though.

PCA is coming off a one-win season that was its worst in more than 20 years. Quarterback Garrett Hutchins said Purvis has brought a new attitude to the program that is raising hopes this year will be better.

“I feel good about it. We’re in shape,” Hutchins said. “It’s a way bigger team, and it’s not fighting because I want a touchdown. It’s fighting because I want the team to get a touchdown and win. It’s a whole different game. The day went good. People are picking each other up and pushing each other harder for the team. We’re going to be ready.”

PCA will get its first game action Aug. 5, when it plays a scrimmage at Canton Academy. St. Al will play a scrimmage at Brookhaven Academy the same night.

The two Warren County schools will then meet for the first time ever in football when they get togetherAug. 12 for a preseason jamboree at St. Al. The regular season begins Aug. 19.

Upcoming schedule

Aug. 5 – Scrimmages

Porters Chapel at Canton Academy

St. Aloysius at Brookhaven Academy

Aug. 12 – Jamboree

Porters Chapel at St. Aloysius

Aug. 19 – Season openers

Cathedral at St. Aloysius

St. Andrew’s at Porters Chapel