The Warrenton football team began its second full week of fall practice Monday afternoon as it prepared for its first game of the season Aug. 19 at Liberty.

“We had a great first week of practice,” Head Coach Steve McDowell said. “We just continued what we worked on in the summertime and we had a few more kids come out, too.”

McDowell said between 65 and 70 kids have come out this season, and he has been pleased with the level of competition in practice thus far.

“We had some inconsistency in the beginning, but you could really see it progress as time went by,” he said. “It had been since the third week of July since we had gathered, and it was fun seeing the progressions and the improvements since then. We had an intersquad scrimmage Saturday, and we were able to see some good things. We watched the film of that and saw that we’re going to have some battles at positions.”

McDowell said the biggest battle he sees is at the linebacker position.

First-Team All-GAC North linebacker Jacob Null returns for his senior season and has locked up an inside linebacker job.

Null led the Warriors with three sacks and 10 tackles-for-loss last year, and was second on the team with 47 total tackles.

“We’re trying to find someone else to get in there and help him in the inside,” McDowell said.

Senior Drake Meine has impressed at outside linebacker, but McDowell wants Meine to stay fresh throughout games.

And for good reason.

Meine expects to be the team’s starting quarterback.

“He has really taken the reins there and he’s doing a great job with it so far,” McDowell said.

First-year offensive coordinator Jeff Smith brings in a more uptempo offense this season, which is a departure from the more traditional attack in years past.

“Last year, with me being more of an old-school coach, we ran it out of the I-Formation a little bit more,” McDowell said. “But Drake is really picking things up, as are all of our kids.”

McDowell will get a better look at his players Friday night when the team heads to the Fort Zumwalt North jamboree at 7 p.m.

The Warriors will compete against Zumwalt North, O’Fallon Christian and Hazelwood East in their final tuneup of the preseason.

“It’s always a good competition and it will give us a good idea of where we are at right now,” McDowell said. “I just want us to move the ball. Defensively, I want to put us in different situations to see how we respond against good competition. But coming out healthy is the No. 1 priority.”