The waiting is finally over. The high school football season has at long last arrived.

Sort of.

With the regular season still one week away, a handful of area high school football teams will take to the field tonight and Friday for their preseason jamborees.

Because of their small numbers, some teams have foregone the exhibitions, hoping to keep their players healthy for the long regular season ahead. Others, however, welcome the opportunity to find out just how good their teams could be this year.

Three area teams will see action tonight. Dallas County hosting Blockton, while last year’s AISA Class 2A state champion Wilcox Academy faces AISA Class 3A defending state champ Morgan Academy.

On Friday night, Selma will host Keith High, while Maplesville entertains Thorsby.

Meanwhile, Central Christian Academy will travel to Columbiana to face Cornerstone High. All three games start at 7 p.m. as well.

“We’ll look for guys not to make mental mistakes that beat us,” Selma head coach Woodrow Lowe Jr. said. “This will be kind of an evaluation, to see what kind of talent we have. We’ll see who can play for us and who can’t play for us.”

Of course, with a contact sport such as football, injuries always are a possibility. While he said injuries were a concern, Wilcox Academy head coach Chris Burford said that would not stop his team from preparing for another state title run.

“Injuries can happen at any time,” Burford said. “You can get hurt stumbling over your own feet.”

Morgan Academy head coach Robert Gartman said he was looking for better execution from his offense after the Senators struggled in their scrimmage last week against Macon East.

“Everything we did last week was wrong,” Gartman said. “(Macon East) did some things we didn’t work on and we couldn’t hold on to the ball.”

Gartman added that he didn’t think his players would be in game condition since he worked them especially hard in practice Monday and Tuesday.

“We’re pretty tired,” he said. “That’s going to hurt us come game time. But when you’re a defending state champion, you don’t worry too much about jamborees.

“I’d like for us to win,” Gartman added. “But I’m not going to come home and lose any sleep over it if we don’t.”