The debate whether to practice football Saturday, the first day the high school state association allowed Georgia teams to do so, never really resonated in two places.

Different circumstances demanded Hephzibah and Grovetown be on the practice field as soon as possible because they couldn't afford to fall behind. Grovetown will open its inaugural season Aug. 21, a week before any other area Georgia team. Hephzibah wants to take advantage of every possible day of favorable weather because it has no place to practice inside. Its gym is under construction. Any time it storms, the Rebels will be unable to practice.

Several area teams will wait until Monday to begin practice on a regimented weekly schedule.

"I'm sure some people did take the day off. I guess we figure we'll make it a blessing," Hephzibah coach John Bowen said. "Every day we can get out here is going to be important, and we were going to go whether we had 15 or 50 out here."

The Rebels had a little more than 30 show up for the first day.

Grovetown, Columbia County's newest high school, marked its first official day as a program looking like it had been at it for years. Linemen lifted in a sterling weight room, skill position players raced through drills on the practice field and three players jogged laps around the track as penalty for arriving late. More than 70 players turned out for the first day to take instructions from 13 coaches.

"The first full day, you can't miss it," coach Rodney Holder said. "I don' think that would have sent a good message to our kids. If we had an opportunity to practice, why are we not practicing when they worked hard all summer."

Holder said the school petitioned the state association to play a game in what is called Week 0, on Aug. 21, a weekend when virtually the only other games in the state take place in the Georgia Dome during the Corky Kell Classic. The only open week for Buford, the Gwinnett County school offering to play Grovetown, was Aug. 21. Buford has won its past 30 games and is a two-time defending Class AA state champion.

"It gives us a look at what the top looks like; that is going to go a long way in selling the vision we have," Holder said. "We've got a plan, got a program and the kids understand that. We're not going to get gimmicky. If you are doing what you do and doing it right, it shouldn't matter."

Reach Matt Middleton at (706) 823-3425 or matt.middleton@augustachronicle.com.