High school football primer

Summer vacation ended early for more Orange County high school football players than ever before.

For more than one-third of the county’s football teams, today is the first day of fall practice, although 41 days of summer remain on the calendar.

Thirty-two teams will play Week 0 games to open their 2007 seasons one week earlier than the official opening week of CIF-Southern Section football. That’s the highest total of Week 0 county teams ever and represents a sizable portion of the county’s 78 football programs.

Because those Week 0 games mean an earlier start to the season, they also mean an earlier start of fall practices.

All three of the county’s defending CIF-SS champions — El Dorado, Orange Lutheran and St. Margaret’s — get going early. St. Margaret’s, with new coach Harry Welch, actually started Saturday.

And a few teams that might be in the Register’s county football preseason top 10 are starting today, too, such as Edison, Esperanza, Mission Viejo, San Clemente, Santa Margarita and Servite.

Teams are allowed a maximum of 25 three-hour practice opportunities before playing their first games and must have a minimum of 14 practices. A player must participate in 10 practices before he can play in a game.

The first three days of fall practice must be physical conditioning only. Equipment is limited to football shoes, helmets, footballs and arm shields, and blocking and tackling are forbidden. Teams can practice in pads when the three-day conditioning period is over.

Teams will have two practices per day for a couple of weeks, then start tapering to single-practice days as the first day of school approaches.

Summer is over and fall is here already at many high schools.

Check out five pressing questions entering camp by clicking here.
Check out five nonleague games you shouldn't miss by clicking here.
Check out some key transfers by clicking here.
Check out the new coaches in Orange County by clicking here.
Check out five top uncommitted recruits in the county by clicking here.