Two of Cape Coral’s high schools take advantage of starting spring football drills as the calendar turned over to May 1.

Ida Baker coach Brian Conn led his players onto the field at midnight several hours before Mariner coach Chad O’Brien did the same at 8 a.m. today

The other area schools – Island Coast, Cape Coral, North Fort Myers and Bishop Verot – hit the field for the first time on Monday.

“If your spring game is earlier in the month you want to get the extra day by starting on Saturday,” said Bishop Verot coach Phil Dorn.

That’s exactly why Conn and O’Brien jumped at the chance even though Baker’s spring game is a week later than Mariner’s

“We wanted to be one of the first teams to practice,” said Conn. “We’ve already done a lot of the administrative things that have to get done, so we’ll go right into our position groups and get some work done.”

“They (FHSAA) give you 20 days of practice so if they I’m going to use them all,” said O’Brien. “Our spring game is on (May) 22, so if we don’t start on the first we will miss a practice.”

Practice comes to a close with a spring game later this month. Most games kick off at 7 p.m.

On May 22, Mariner hosts Lemon Bay. The following week, on May 27, Bishop Verot hosts Port Charlotte; and on May 28, Baker heads east to Riverdale, Cape Coral travels south to Golden Gate, Island Coast entertains Lakewood Ranch, and North Fort Myers hosts Lehigh.

“We have a lot of new faces this year,” said Conn, who loses 22 seniors to graduation. “Spring practices will look at the personnel to see what positions fit them the best because we have a lot of positions to fill. Our senior class will be small, so quite a few sophomores and juniors will have to contribute, too.”

O’Brien is stressing fundamentals, as most coaches do this time of year.

“We have to know what kids we have and get them in the right place, get the fundamentals taken care of and get familiar with our schemes so in the fall everyone knows where they are supposed to be,” said O’Brien.

Island Coast kicks off Monday.

“We hope to build on last year’s success,” said Gators coach Joe Bowen. “Our first group of guys have been here three years so they are all seniors now. With the registration numbers (incoming 9th graders) I’m expecting a large turnout. We only had 30 in our first year.”

Cape High is the only school on this side of the river to enter spring with a new coach in Brad Metheny, who was named Mike Goebbel’s successor just five weeks ago.

The Metheny era begins Monday with after-school practice sessions to prepare for their May 28 spring game.

Barry Goettemoeller embarks on his third year as North Fort Myers coach with new offensive and defensive coordinators.

“We will be introducing a totally new defense this spring,” said Goettemoeller, who has promoted assistant Matt Nero to defensive coordinator. “Once we get everybody there (Monday) and do some conditioning we will introduce them to the offense and defense.”

Goettemoeller also promoted Richard Roudybush to offensive coordinator for the new season. The Red Knights, however, will be missing 10 seniors who are going on to play college football.

“I think we will have about the same turnout as last spring, maybe up a little,” Goettemoeller said. “In the fall with incoming freshmen we could have 80 or 90 players in the program.”

Verot coach Phil Dorn said he and his staff will spend a lot of time on the fundamentals and making sure the returning players have a general grasp of the base offense and defense.

“We want to establish a great foundation,” said Dorn. “You always miss the experienced kids at first, those who got the most reps and playing time in the fall. This will be a great opportunity to see what the young kids coming back can do in their positions.