MacArthur had a glimpse of growing pains during its first scrimmage against preseason No. 2 Bishop McGuinness on Aug. 17.
The Highlanders gave up some big plays to the Fighting Irish, including touchdowns runs of 59 and 60 yards with the starters on the field. Although the score was not officially kept, McGuinness left the field with a 4-1 touchdown advantage.
Mac coach Brett Manning admitted the Irish got the better of them, but he remained positive in his players' ability to learn from its misfortunes. And learn they did.
"We watched some film on Friday (Aug. 18), and Saturday was our best practice of the year," Manning said. "Instead of hanging their heads, they decided to get to work."
The Highlanders looked like a different team only a week later in a two-part scrimmage with pre-season No. 1 Carl Albert and 6A-II school Mustang, holding the teams to 86 total yards in two 20-minute simulated games with a running clock. Mac defeated the Titans 7-0 and tied with the Broncos in scoreless bout.
Manning said his squad's performances in the scrimmages were comparable to those of past years.
"We made a lot of mistakes on both sides of the ball, and we did do some good things too," Manning said. "The key is to go out after that first scrimmage and correct things and try to be better the next week."
The final preseason tune-up included a rapid-fire portion. The connection between quarterback JR Winningham and receiver Jarious McKnight turned some heads to Mac's potential on offense. Winningham hit McKnight for what would have been two 80-yard touchdowns passes in a real game.
"They've been playing together for a long time and feel comfortable with each other," Manning said. "Jarious has a lot of speed and does a good job with the deep routes and posts, so I hope that's something we can become good at."
Although facing large programs that are good in scrimmages can be challenging, Manning said it helps the players get a feeling for what the actual season is going to be like, especially in district play.
"The scrimmages were very beneficial for us," Manning said. "I like scrimmaging tough teams, and it doesn't do anything but make us better."
Week 1 practice
Although scrimmages help the players unleash on opponents other than themselves, practices can still take a toll on the energy and intensity of a team.
However, that is something Manning said hasn't been a problem for the Highlanders this season. "The energy has been really good," Manning said. "Our kids are excited, and they're ready to go. We've had some really good practices since the McGuinness scrimmage — some of the best of the year."
Of course, that couldn't be done through the will power of the coaches' alone. No, the Mac players say say they made a decision early in the summer to keep the overall intensity high thanks to a challenge from Winningham.
"The one thing I'm trying to improve on this season that I've told all my teammates is staying focused," Winningham said. "I want to keep the same intensity that I had during the spring throughout all of the practices because everybody thinks it gets boring, and it really does, but you can't let that happen. You have to stay intense throughout the entire season."
Needless to say, the Highlanders are ready for Friday night's game against Eisenhower.
"I think we're ready to go — the energy level is high — it's going to be a lot of fun."
The Hammer
Mac is a program full of traditions, and one of the most noticeable is the Hammer.
Each week, a selected player leads the team onto the field with a large green and yellow sledgehammer — an homage to the school's color scheme. This practice has been going since 2010 — Manning's second season as the head coach.
"We were a young team in 2009 — we started a lot of sophomores, and we were not physically ready for varsity football yet," Manning said. "Gaining strength and being more physical needed to be a big emphasis in our program.
"We adjusted our off-season and started doing a few things differently and brought out the Hammer award."
Not just anyone gets the privilege to carry the object, though.
Manning and coaching staff thoroughly review each player's feats from the week before, and whoever stood out with either a big hit or physical play is donned with the distinction for the next game.
The hammer is often a topic of discussion among players.
"The kids like to speculate each week who's going to get it, and it was tough this week," Manning said.
Rylan Webb, a senior, is the Week 1 recipient for the award thanks to his tenacity throughout spring ball and the scrimmages.
"We had some other guys who were pretty deserving too, but it's just one of those deals," Manning said. "They'll all have an opportunity this year."
Assistant coaches
The Highlanders have put a successful product on the field for many years — thanks in large part to a mixture of young and old coaches on the staff.
Manning considers both coordinators — Michael Pooschke (offensive) and Mike Reffett (defensive) — as the "young coaches".
"I think it's really important that they're getting to be the coordinators while the older coaches are still here and able to help them," Manning said. "We're also fortunate those old coaches don't have an ego — they don't want to be coordinators. They like doing what they're doing, and they're happy to help out these younger guys. It's a great mix of young and old that I have."
Offensively, Ernie Manning and Jack Baker patrol the offensive line.
Ernie has been with the program for 23 years, head coaching until 2009, and with his imminent retirement not far from the horizon, Baker is being molded to fill the eventual vacancy.
"Coach Baker is a really experienced coach who I'm lucky to have," Manning said. "He's learning the way we do offensive line, and we have anticipation of him taking that spot over when coach (Ernie) leaves."
Phil Dennis is once again doing double duty as the running backs coach and special teams coordinator. Dennis also helps Reffett with the defensive backs.
Elsewhere, Leo Holmes and Max Plunck are tag teaming the linebacker positions, with Holmes taking responsibility for the inside backers, and Plunck coaching up the outside backers.
Odell Gunner is the defensive line coach, and Manning said he does a great job relating with the players.
"Even though he's kind of in between the young and old guys as far as age goes, I kind of consider him one of the young guys because he has a lot of energy," Manning said.
Next-level success
Mac has graduated some impressive athletes who have gone on to make an impact at the next level, and two from the graduating class of 2016 will be seeing playing time in FBS Division I football this weekend.
Former All-State offensive lineman TJ Fiailoa is set to make his first collegiate start as a right guard for the University of Louisiana-Monroe against Memphis tonight at 8 p.m. The game can be viewed on the CBS Sports network.
Walter Neil is also slated to see action for Kansas State in the Wildcats' opener against Central Arkansas at 6 p.m. on Saturday. Neil was listed as a backup at one of the cornerback slots on the depth chart released by head coach Bill Snyder on Tuesday.