Manteno hosted Momence Friday evening for a Week 0 scrimmage, with the teams getting some live snaps against someone other than themselves in preparation for the looming Week 1.

The teams ran 24 plays apiece in the scrimmage, starting at the other team’s 40-yard line and switching off after every 12 plays.

Both teams have veteran quarterbacks returning to lead the way as seniors. Momence, coming off an 8-2 season and coming off its second straight playoff appearance, has Erick Castillo heading into his fourth year as the team’s starter under center. Manteno, coming off a 7-3 season and its first playoff berth since 2019, has Connor Harrod entering his third year as starter.

Manteno will be relying on Harrod and the passing game a bit more this season after being run-focused a season ago. He still made a few nice plays with his legs Friday while also connecting with half a dozen different receivers.

Harrod said that getting on the same page with those receivers has been a major focus throughout the offseason.

“We’ve been working all summer on getting chemistry,” he said. “We’ve been out running routes outside of practice, so our chemistry. A lot of people understand what they’re doing.”

A big key to Manteno’s success this season is its team speed, which head coach RJ Haines said is as good as it’s been during his tenure with the Panthers.

That speed flashed on both sides of the ball Friday, including on a 60-yard touchdown run from Nick Honkisz, who will be one of the team’s primary running backs this season, on the very first snap of the scrimmage. Briggs Cann, who placed ninth at state in the 400 meters last year, showcased his speed on a 60-yard touchdown reception later on.

“Kind of what we do offensively is we want to get our speed in space,” Haines said. “We’ve got a number of guys that can run, so being able to get them the football, trying to keep things simple up front, that’ll be the plan.”

The Panthers open up the season on the road against Sandwich, who they beat 54-32 last season, with the team looking to grow after Friday’s scrimmage as they head into their first game week.

“We’ll get on the film, the kids will get on Hudl this weekend,” Haines said. “Obviously we have some things to clean up, so our focus is going to be just the process of getting back to work Monday and being the best we can come Sandwich on Friday.”

For Momence, its heads into the season behind the leadership of one of the most experienced quarterbacks in the state, and perhaps the most effective signal caller in the area over the last several years, with Castillo.

Castillo kept a handful of plays alive on scrambles and connected with Eddier Ferreira, Greyson Cantwell and Damien Upton on some big plays down field.

Coming off a junior season in which he threw for 1,814 yards and 18 touchdowns, and ran for 352 yards and nine more scores, Castillo said it just felt nice to get out there and see some game-like action.

“It feels nice,” he said. “Week 1 is a week a way, and I think our team needed this. We needed to see live action and we need to be prepared for the week coming up. It’s nice to play a bigger school and get some experience.”

Head coach Wayne Walker said that the live snaps certainly gave the team a clearer picture of what they’ll need to clean up over the next week.

“Live snaps helped us recognize that, our defense, we’ve got to pick it up a bit,” he said. “We know on the defensive side of the ball we need to make some improvements. Offensive side of the ball, we looked okay. We had some bad snaps but there was a lot of good things offensively.”

Momence will be at home in Week 1 to host Vermilion Valley Conference opponent Oakwood, whom its beat 40-12 last year.

“One thing you can always control is effort, and we’ve got to do that for sure before we play Oakwood,” Walker said. “If we keep doing what we’re doing on offense, that’s going to help us stay in games, but we’ve got to show up on the defensive side too.”