With the football season fast approaching, most every high school coach in the state can't wait to get his hands on his players for the first practice of the season.

Thanks to a new ruling by the Missouri State High School Activities Association earlier this year, those coaches will have two less days to wait.

Normally the first day of fall practice begins on Wednesday, with full-contact drills starting after three days. The new ruling moved the initial day allowed for practice to Monday with the first day of full-padded contact beginning Thursday. Every high school team in the area will be taking advantage of the early start.

"Any time we get more chances to prepare, that's fine with me," said Cape Central coach Jerry Dement.

With the addition of Jamboree scrimmages last year the week before the season started, Missouri coaches found it difficult to get all their players the required 14 days of practice needed before they can participate in a game.

"The early start gives you a little more flexibility," said St. Vincent coach Paul Sauer. "Before you were struggling (to get the required 14 practices in) if a kid got hurt or missed a few practices."

Area Jamborees will be held Aug. 28 with the season kicking off Sept. 4. Here's an early look at some of the local squads:

Cape Central

The Tigers are coming off a 7-3 season and Dement, starting his sixth-year at Central, is ready to improve on that mark.

"We've got several key returning players and quite a few lettermen coming back," Dement said. "We have a good nucleus to build around."

Dement is expecting about 60 players out in grades 10-12 for the start of practice Monday. The Tigers will conduct two-a-days starting at 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. and lasting about two hours.

"We'll concentrate on conditioning and fundamentals at the start," said Dement. "Then we'll start inserting our main offense and defense."

Central goes to Jackson for a four-team Jamboree on Aug. 28. The Tigers officially open the season Sept. 4 at Houck Stadium against Columbia Hickman.

Jackson

The Indians experienced a dream season last year, completing the regular season undefeated and finishing sixth in the final Class 5A poll.

But with only four players returning with considerable experience from last season's 11-1 quarterfinal squad, Jackson coach Carl Gross has plenty of holes to fill.

"We're going to be brand new," said Gross, entering his 10th season as Jackson's head coach. "Before, we could project on paper who would be playing where, but with the exception of three or four guys it's wide open. We need to have people step up more than we've ever had."

Jackson's 65 players in grades 10-12 will conduct two-a-day practices the first week from 9-11 a.m. and from 5-7:30 p.m. Unlike most programs, conditioning won't be a high priority for the Indians.

"The kids came into camp in good physical condition," Gross said. "The biggest thing right now is getting them to play every down at a competitive high school level. We have to develop some consistency."

Jackson will host a four-team Jamboree Aug. 28 in "The Pit." The Indians also open the season at home Sept. 4 with a SEMO North Division game against Sikeston.

Scott City

Entering his fourth season at Scott City, coach Terry Flannigan might be looking at a breakthrough season for the Rams after last season's 7-3 finish.

"I hope so," Flannigan said. "I think this senior group knows what we have to do. We have to lock down mentally and take each game one at a time."

About 55 players in grades 9-12 start two-a-day practices Monday at 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Both sessions will last about two-and-a-half hours.

"We're going to try to get the ball rolling," said Flannigan. "Those first three days we'll do a lot of review and sled work, try to get organized and work on conditioning."

Scott City travels to Dexter Aug. 28 for a four-team Jamboree with Portageville and Fredericktown. The Rams will host Malden in a key SEMO South Division game to open the season Sept. 4.

Chaffee

Chaffee has hit extremely hard times in recent seasons, but there does appear to be some promise for the future as Brian Horrell enters his third season as the Red Devils' coach.

The Red Devils went 2-7 a year ago after winning just one game the previous season. While one of last season's victories came by way of forfeit, Chaffee was competitive in many of its games.

With only a very few seniors having been lost to graduation, and with more players in camp -- about 37 -- than the previous few seasons, things are looking up for the Red Devils.

Chaffee will have its first practice at 8 a.m. Monday and come back with another workout about 6 p.m.

The Red Devils will participate in a four-team Jamboree Aug. 28 at Kennett. They'll open the season Sept. 4 on the road against Grandview.

Perryville

Coming off a 4-6 campaign, Perryville coach Jerry Tucker will get his second season with the Pirates started with one long session starting Monday at 7 a.m.

Tucker plans to work his 45 varsity members until about 11 a.m. on the first two practice days. Beginning Wednesday, practice will start at 3 p.m. On Saturday, the Pirates will conduct their lift-a-thon at the high school.

"The first part of practice we'll do a lot of drill work, concentrating on getting back into the swing of things," Tucker said. "Later in the day, we'll do (chalk) board work and have walk-throughs. We'll be working on refining what we did last year."

Perryville will participate in a four-team Jamboree Aug. 28 at Jackson. The Pirates open the regular season at home Sept. 4 against Farmington.

St. Vincent

After a surprising playoff appearance in 1997, the Indians open up their fourth season under head coach Paul Sauer with huge expectations in 1998.

Only a handful of seniors graduated from last year's 8-3 squad that wrapped up the season ranked ninth in the final Class 1A poll.

The Indians start practice Monday from 6-8:30 p.m., with 71 players expected on the field. That's a remarkable participation number considering St. Vincent has only 93 boys enrolled in grades 9-12.

"We've got about 27 varsity players," Sauer said, counting just his juniors and seniors. "About 23 or 24 of those are pretty good athletes."

With so many quality athletes, Sauer said he's considered splitting his team into separate offensive and defensive squads to keep his players fresh.

"We'll be trying to brush up on what we've done in the past, but we also put in a few new wrinkles during camp," Sauer said. "We added a few things offensively because we don't want to get caught up in doing the same old things."

St. Vincent will be one of four team's to participate in the Jamboree hosted by Jackson on Aug. 28. The Indians open the season Sept. 4 at home against Carlyle, Ill.