GREENFIELD — While the high school football season is a little over a month away, local teams are finding ways to improve and get better in the meantime. 

For the past few years, Greenfield, Mahar, Athol and Franklin Tech have been playing 7-on-7 football throughout the summer at Greenfield High School, using the time to get in shape and develop chemistry with teammates before the pads go on in August. 

“Between the four schools there’s probably almost 60 kids here [Monday],” Athol coach Josh Talbot said. “They’re running around, playing football and interacting with their buddies. It’s great to have this. It’s nice having everyone here. We started this when Chris Bailey was at Mahar and we called it the Franklin County Friendly. We’ve been able to keep it going. It’s great having this here and having them playing.”

What is 7-on-7 football? Imagine football without an offensive line, where quarterbacks work to develop timing and chemistry with their pass catchers while the defense gets prepared to face the opposition’s pass attack. It is played on a shorter field and the game is two-hand touch tackling, not full blown hitting. 

It offers a way for players to improve with less risk of injury. So far, players say they are seeing the results. 

“I think personally it’s been going well,” Mahar’s Malaki Grummell said. “We obviously need to work better on coming together as a team because we lost a lot of people last year. We can work on that. Besides that, it’s going well.

“It helps me,” Grummell added. “I can’t speak for the other kids but I think they like it too. They’re getting better day by day. I think we’ve improved a lot. Most of our seniors and the younger kids coming up are learning. I think we’ll be pretty good this year.” 

For quarterbacks like Franklin Tech’s Tyler Yetter, using the 7-on-7 reps is key before the season. 

With former Eagles quarterback Gabe Tomasi graduating, Yetter and Franklin Tech are taking advantage of every play they get in 7-on-7 action.

“It helps with timing with everyone and timing on routes,” Yetter said. “It’s really helpful for getting the timing down on routes. It’s huge getting on the same page as the receivers.”

While it’s a challenge to get the whole team there during the summer, the players who do show up are putting valuable work in. 

“It’s going and we’re not doing bad,” Yetter said. “We don’t have many kids because we have kids spread out everywhere [for the summer]. It’s hard for rides. For the kids that we have, we’re doing well.” 

In the few 7-on-7 sessions, Greenfield’s Caleb Murray and Krish Patel both noticed the defense was well ahead of the offense. 

That’s to be expected, as it typically takes more time for an offense to come together. For Murray, a quarterback, and Patel, a receiver, the reps before practices start are invaluable. 

“I’ve seen improvement in getting the ball out,” Murray said. “Reacting quicker to the defense. Offense has been a struggle so we need to step that up. The difference is defense. We just need to be confident out there and we’ll be alright.”

Patel agreed that there’s already been improvement, as the Green Wave hope to get back in the state tournament mix come this fall.

“It’s going pretty well,” Patel said. “The first [session] last week we went 1-1 and it wasn’t too bad. The quarterbacks got their confidence up which was good. Defensively we’ve done really well.”

But like most summer sports, it’s not about the results. Instead, it’s about making gradual improvement, trying new things and working out the kinks so that when the season does come around next month, those issues are ironed out. The first day of fall 2024 practice for football is Aug. 16.

“It’s about easing back into it,” Patel sad. “You don’t have to rush things out here.”