Walker Mosby expects there to be some nervousness around St. Aloysius’ football fieldhouse on Friday, as the team prepares for a scrimmage against Lamar School.

The Flashes see their first live action this season. Mosby will step onto the sideline as a head coach for the first time. Young players will make their debuts, and veterans will ease back into familiar routines.

Working through it all is what the preseason is for.

“We want it to be as realistic as possible for the guys to get those first-game jitters out of the way, and I feel like that’s the best way,” Mosby said.

St. Al and Lamar will begin the scrimmage at 7 p.m. at Farrell Stadium/Balzli Field. They will play two quarters with the junior varsity and two with the varsity, with normal timing rules.

There will be no kickoffs or punts. Special teams will be limited to PATs and field goals.

Mosby said he’s looking more at how the Flashes do things than what they do against Lamar.

“I just want these guys to compete. That’s all I want them to do. I want them to execute the play and compete. That’s all I can ask from them,” Mosby said.

The week between the scrimmage and the regular-season opener on Aug. 23 at Adams County Christian School will provide an opportunity to evaluate how well they did all of that. Mosby said he opted to play the scrimmage this week rather than next so there would be plenty of opportunity to make adjustments.

“I’m ready to go in and get started. I’m probably the most impatient person in this whole entire world,” Mosby said. “But I’m ready to see these guys play, and I would like that two-week buffer to get ready for the season. To slow things down and make the corrections that we need to make leading up to Adams County. That’s the game that really matters.”

One position to watch Friday will be quarterback. Senior Carson Smith and junior Sadler Lambiotte both saw time at the position last season.

Smith was the starting quarterback for most of 2023, but moved to receiver for several games because of a shoulder injury. He wound up leading the team in passing yards (900) and receiving yards (182), with Lambiotte doing a good job getting him the ball.

Lambiotte was 15-of-28 for 103 yards against Riverfield in one of his starts in place of Smith.

They’ve split reps throughout the offseason, but rather than a quarterback battle Mosby viewed it as an asset. He said he’ll try to take advantage of both players’ skill sets to get the most of out of them and benefit the team.

“They have both been efficient. I don’t know if you could have two better quarterbacks. They’ve both done great. They both want to learn, they both want to work. I’ve been impressed with both of them,” Mosby said. “They both bring something different to the table — Carson with his speed and experience, Sadler with his arm — and they both play at such a high level it makes my job tough. We may go with a two-quarterback system the whole year through.”