GALT, CA (MPG) - Football season officially gets underway this Friday for the Hawks, who travel to Escalon to face the Cougars in their first preseason contest of the year. The trip marks the first real test for a squad that spent the summer building toward what many around the program believe could be a special season.

Last Friday the Hawks hosted a multi-team scrimmage that gave coaches an early look at where things stand. McNair High School and Ripon High School made the trip, and the format gave each team 15 minutes on defense followed by 15 minutes on offense. That structure turned out to be valuable practice time rather than a scoreboard exercise, letting the staff confirm that the plays are working, that the linemen are settling into the positions they need to be in, and that the receivers and the quarterback are connecting the way they will need to once games start counting.

Experience is the story of this roster. The Hawks return 12 seniors, many of whom have been playing varsity since their sophomore year, which means a large portion of the leadership group has already logged two seasons of Friday night snaps together. That continuity is hard to replicate and it showed in the scrimmage, where the veterans handled the tempo without much adjustment.

The Hawks are also carrying momentum. The team went undefeated last season and won its league, and with so many key contributors coming back, expectations inside the program are understandably high for another deep, successful run when the postseason arrives.

Depth will be worth watching. As of now the roster sits at 26 players, a number that puts a premium on staying healthy and on younger players being ready when their turn comes. For now, though, the focus is squarely on Escalon and on carrying last Friday’ s work into the first real opponent of the year.