High School football practice kicks off Monday with the season openers slated for the week of Aug. 21.

Each school must participate in 12 days of preseason practice before playing its first regular season contest.

There will be 141 varsity games played on Aug. 24 to kick off the season, 153 games on Aug. 25 and 16 games on Aug. 26.

The Wolverine Conference, which includes Dowagiac and Edwardsburg, will kick off the season on Aug. 24 with Dowagiac traveling to Vicksburg and Edwardsburg heading to Allegan.

Both games will begin at 7 p.m.

Niles will open its season against SMAC non-divisional opponent Loy Norrix in Kalamazoo at 7 p.m. Aug. 25.

In the BCS Athletic Conference, Brandywine will host Bridgman on Aug. 24 at 7 p.m.

In the newly created Southwest 10, Cassopolis will travel to Bangor for its season opener on Aug. 25.

There are several new rules that will be enforced during the 2017 season, including the blindside block.

A blindside block involves a player who is vulnerable to injury when a block is coming from outside his field of vision, such as on a kickoff return or on a play down field when a runner or receiver gets away from the defender.

The new rule now states that the blindside block must be initiated with open hands only. A player who makes blindside contact that is forceful or with any other part of the body outside the free blocking zone will be given an excessive and unnecessary penalty.

Dowagiac coach Mike Stanger and Niles coach Joe Sassano both believe the rule will make the game much safer.

“When it comes to the blindside I am ok with that,” Stanger said. “When I think of the blindside I think of more down the field with defenders chasing and somebody comes from the blindside and ‘earholes’ them, where they put their helmet or shoulder pad right in the ear hole. I think they are talking the open-field blindside that is very blatant. I am okay with that as long as they are using their hands first.”

“Anything that is going to make the game safer is a plus,” Sassano said. “Most of the time when those type of blocks happen anyway, they do not have to be so vicious. The end result should just be keeping the defender from making a play. I know last year they emphasized blocking away from the ball where guys would not be able to make a play anyway. A lot of those blocks were also blindside even though they were illegal, they were not going to have any impact on the game.

“Again, I understand the direction they are trying to take the game. It is almost like they are trying to save the game. So, I am in favor of anything that is going to protect the kids and protect the game.”

Another rule change that will greatly impact the game is that non-contact face guarding will no longer be considered pass interference.

Stanger and Sassano agree that they will still teach their defensive backs to turn and look for the ball and make a play on it instead of playing the receiver.

“That is a tough one because you are constantly teaching the kids to play the ball,” Stanger said. “You teach them that when the receiver looks for the ball you look for the ball. I tend to think it should be pass interference, because if a kid is beat and does not play the ball and just throws his hands up in the air to block you, then it should be pass interference.”

“We are not going to coach any of that,” Sassano said. “I will mention the rule, but we are not going to change any of the techniques or any of the fundamentals we teach because ultimately if we have a chance to get the ball, we want it. So, when we coach to defend the pass, we teach them to play the receiver, but find the football. It is just a lot easier to make a play on the ball if you can see it.”

Another rule change will be that in the final two minutes of each half, a penalty will give the team accepting the penalty the option to either have the clock start then the ball is snapped or when the referee gets the read-to-play signal.

Neither Stanger or Sassano feel that it will be a huge change to the game and both feel that the score of the game at the time of the penalty will dictate how a team implements the rule.

“Defending on the situation of the game,” Sassano said. “If you are trailing, you want as many ticks on the clock as possible. But if you are ahead and trying to run the clock out then you want it to run. I do not see that being a major change that will impact the outcome of the game.”

“I do not think it should be a huge change,” Stanger said. “We have to wait and see how that goes. You can get a little better situated for the next play, but most teams now with practice and preparing for that situation, and with all the spread teams we see, they are used to lining up quick anyway.”