I had my own two-a-day on Monday, stopping by Heritage in the morning to check up on Coach Wes Driskill's Pride and swinging by South Riding in the afternoon to get a look at Tom McIntyre's Freedom Eagles. I definitely picked the right day for it - 75 and sunny blue skies...Today I'll throw out some knowledge about Heritage and I'll follow it up with my impressions of Freedom tomorrow. The full team previews for each school will be up later this week with the Eagles going on the site Thursday and Heritage on Friday (yes, we're going alphabetically if you haven't figured that one out yet).

Last season the Pride compiled a 7-3 mark (5-2 Dulles District), falling just short of the Region II playoffs based on the sometimes-baffling and frequently frustrating power points system. Heritage lost several key players from last year's squad but returns a large crop of experienced seniors determined to make a statement in the Pride's final year in AA football.

Yesterday was devoted to defense, but I was still able to catch a glimpse of the top offensive threats during some full contact drills and play calling.

Here are a few observations...

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

We've got another quarterback competition brewing in the Dulles District. While this one doesn't appear to be nearly as publically heated as another down the road in Ashburn, it still involves two capable performers who have earned the confidence of their coach and teammates to this point. The contenders are senior Zach Gordon and sophomore Brian Rody. Gordon - who performed well filling in for injured senior Kyle Nelson last year - should have the upper hand at the moment. He's a known quantity who has showed flashes of his potential to perform in big-game environments. Gordon also has heaps of chemistry with standout senior running back Ross Madison and tight end Russell East,having played football with them since 8th grade. He knows the offense and knows how Driskill wants it run, as evidenced by several accurate throws during seven-on-sevens.

Rody is the young upstart with loads of potential and a cannon for an arm. With speedy playmakers like Madison and wideouts T.J. McPhaul (senior) and David McCarthy (junior), Rody's ability to air it out will come in handy for quick strikes down the field. During a seven-on-seven play, he zipped a perfectly placed ball between two defenders and into the arms of McCarthy for a touchdown. Each brings something unique to the huddle which makes it quite possible that they could share time under center this fall. With his edge in experience, it's likely that Gordon begins the season as the starter, but Driskill said he's still evaluating them during practices and waiting to see who steps up. He also said a quarterback rotation was a possibility if that ends up being the best fit for the Pride's shotgun spread attack.

OTHER NOTES

-- After a 148-carry, 836-yard season in 2007, Madison is looking to put up bigger numbers in '08. He spent long hours in the weight room over the offseason, increasing his upper body strength without losing the elusiveness that helped him tally eight touchdowns a year ago. He and McPhaul shared a few laughs while playing some seriously illegal press-man coverage on one another during defensive back drills. Look for much more on Madison in Friday's full Heritage preview.

-- Speaking of McPhaul, he might be small (he's generously listed at 5-foot-10) but the guy has some serious wheels in the defensive backfield and on kick returns. He and Madison were both downfield to return punts during practice and ran several reverses that had the coverage team chasing them in circles. Expect some big plays from the return unit this season.

-- On the subject of special teams, the Pride return senior place kicker Josh Thiel and he looked good in a brief kicking session while the rest of the team was running through positional drills. I wasn't watching him for long, but I did see him nail five or six field goals in a row from 20-30 yards out.

-- Driskill told me he's got his biggest lines ever this season, a direct result of lots of offseason conditioning and time spent in the weightroom. Junior Josh Labuhn and senior Thomas Ewing - who will likely play on both lines this year - were impressive during some full contact run-throughs, bowling over offensive lineman and making tackles in the backfield. The two also had some fun during one of Driskill's drills in which one lineman starts two steps behind a second and must chase the man in front of him around a small circle of cones until he can bring the lead runner down. The bigger Labuhn had little trouble catching Ewing, who slipped several times and blamed it on his spikes.

-- Overall the guys looked loose and confident as they ran through defensive sets and positional drills. East told me this team was very disappointed to not make regionals last season and his senior class is going to make sure that doesn't happen in 2008.

Which leads us to today's poll question...