The dog days of August certainly had its bite for the St. James High football team the first week of practice, as far as the weather was concerned.

However, a nice, overcast, cooler morning Saturday, Aug. 15 was a welcomed change to conclude that first week for the Tigers for their annual Red and White Scrimmage at Tiger Field.

Saturday’s practice/scrimmage was the first day of full contact for the Tigers.

Like Missouri squads around the state, St. James’ fall sports teams began practice sessions Monday, Aug. 10. And as usual the weather - with temps flirting with triple-digits at times - forced some practices to be altered.

“We had to adjust some because of the weather,” said Dusty Craft, entering his fourth season as head coach of his alma mater. “On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we pushed practice back due to the heat.”

Saturday’s scrimmage allowed the squad get back in the swing of things as far as full contact is concerned after it ended summer off-season activities a couple weeks ago with the two-day Branson Full-Contact Camp.

“I think we got what we needed,” Craft said. “That first day of contact gets them back in the tackling mode; the full-speed mode. And we’ve seen improvements. The offensive line, from where it was at the Branson Camp to now, has continued to improve.”

Craft hopes to see that continued improvement as the Tigers prepare for their season-opening dress rehearsal this week at the Sullivan Jamboree, to be held Friday, Aug. 21.

The Sullivan Jamboree is to begin at 7 p.m. Friday. Jamboree-style scrimmage sessions will be held on each side of the Sullivan High School Field. Each school will face three other schools in scrimmage sessions - with equal number of offensive and defensive snaps per session.

St. James’ first three regular-season opponents will also be competing in the Sullivan Jamboree - Salem, Cuba and host Sullivan. Other schools participating in the event will be Lutheran South and Jefferson R-7. St. James will face Lutheran South, Cuba and Jefferson in its three sessions.

Following the jamboree the Tigers begin game prep for their season-opener, when they host Salem at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28 at Tiger Field. And after a second home game against Cuba Sept. 4, St. James returns to Sullivan to open its Four Rivers Conference slate Sept. 11.

“Going into the jamboree, offensively we’ve got a line spot to be battled over as well as a tight end spot,” Craft said. “Those positions will probably be determined at the jamboree.”

St. James has five starters on offense, five on defense and one on special teams returning from last season’s squad, which finished 4-7 overall and 2-4 in FRC action.

Offensively, those figuring to start for the Tigers in the opener include junior Luke Jackson at center; either junior Josiah Reeves or junior Anthony Ferguson at left guard; sophomore Bentley Dildine at left tackle; sophomore Matthew Kettner at right guard; junior Caden Brown at right tackle; either senior Jayce Mathenia or Ferguson at tight end; seniors Hunter Freeman and O.T. Jackson at wide receiver; junior Patrick Lonning and senior John Nicholson at slotback; seniors Steven Holt and Gavyn King at running back/fullback, and senior Owen Spurgeon at quarterback. Lonning will serve as the varsity backup at QB.

On defense Nicholson and King figure to start at left and right outside linebacker, respectively; Reeves at left end; L. Jackson at noseguard; Ferguson at right end; Holt and Mathenia at inside linebacker; O.T. Jackson at left cornerback; junior Brendan Arnold at right cornerback and Freeman and junior Aiden Cruz at the safety positions. Others expecting to have varsity roles include senior Ryder Hanneken and freshman Max Cohen at outside linebacker; sophomores Broc Gibson and Ryan Engelbrecht at inside linebacker; sophomore Jaden Otto at cornerback, and Spurgeon at safety.

Senior Preston Hash is back at place-kicker and punter while Nicholson handles the long-snapping duties. Likely return men are Lonning and senior Isaac Pearson.

The Tigers figure to again base out of a run-heavy, flexbone offensive attack while changing its defensive scheme to best fit its personnel. Holt returns to bolster the offense after rushing for 1,005 yards last season while Lonning chipped in 107 rushing yards. Spurgeon is entering his third season as a starter at QB.

“It’s definitely a jump-start - not a rebuild - on offense,” Craft said. “We lost all five offensive linemen, but the youth we have there is stepping up and growing. The offense will stay the same; we want to establish the run and then open it up when we can.

“Because of what we’re losing on defense (led by now-graduated all-state inside linebacker Zane Achterberg) and the youth of the line, we’re going to take advantage of the linebacker core we have and decided to go to an odd-man front. Holt will own the role that Achterberg had and become the guy to plug and find the football. And Jayce sees the ball really well and makes reads. He had a really good off-season. We had to replace athletic ability in (graduated Nick) Gleason and (Aiden) Boone in the secondary and we had a guy like Arnold who learned under them and because of injuries he got key varsity minutes. At outside linebacker Nicholson is athletic and strong. Nicholson and King are two of the pound-for-pound strongest lifters in the school. And Freeman will be a really good receiver and safety for us.”