NASHUA – Wednesday marked the first day of practice for high school football teams around the state, and in the Gate City, everyone was ready to start the season.

Nashua High School South coach Scott Knight has been itching to get his Panthers on the field and ready for opening night in Manchester against Memorial.

"It feels great to get out here," Knight said. "It’s the best summer we’ve ever had. So we’re champing at the bit to get going. Weight training, conditioning, seven on sevens – all of that – it’s just been a real good summer and I know the kids are real anxious to get going."

Over at Nashua High School North, former Titans offensive coordinator, and most recently Merrimack head coach, Dante Laurendi is happy to get back on the field, especially for his first year as North’s head coach.

"It feels good to be out here starting the good stuff," Laurendi said. "It’s a long offseason, so I think everybody is excited to get out here starting the fun stuff again."

Despite the job being a perfect fit – considering he’s a teacher in the building – he was downplaying his personal excitement to take the reins after his former mentor Jason Robie resigned following the 2014 season.

"It’s more just being excited to get started," he said. "It’s definitely comfortable because of the familiarity already, so that’s great, but we’ve been going since January with weight lifting and summer conditioning and things like that. So it was more a fact of let’s get out there and start to do some football."