THOMASVILLE — The break is over for the Brookwood Warriors.

After taking last week off following a summer packed with passing scrimmages, Brookwood opened fall practice Monday in full pads and in full contact.

“The thing we’ve done is we’ve played hard,” Brookwood coach Shane Boggs said about the Warriors’ opening practice. “We’ve messed some things up, for sure, but we’ve had great effort, which is where you have to start. We can’t spend time coaching effort.

“As far as hitting on the first day, I don’t know what good it does you to go out without pads. We’ve been without pads all summer.”

While the Warriors didn’t slowly progress into full contact, Brookwood’s load was lightened by a late practice — the Warriors are practicing from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. this week — and by a solid summer conditioning program.

“One, the conditioning factor — all those (passing) games we played, that’s better preparation than getting on the line and running 40s and all that stuff,” Boggs added. “We’re in pretty decent shape right now.

“It’s got to be, at least, 10 degrees better than it would be in an afternoon practice right now, so that is an advantage, and we’re taking plenty of water breaks. You still have to be smart. If they know something’s going wrong with their body, they have to tell the doctor and we’ll solve that.”

One thing Brookwood hoped to solve was a new defensive scheme. and after one practice Boggs was pleased with the Warriors’ progress.

“The defensive guys, we’re putting in a new defense and I’m very pleased with their attention,” he noted. “I think we have a chance to be very physical on defense.”

Helping lead that defensive charge Monday was junior defensive lineman Kyle Porter, who wreaked havoc during 11-on-11 drills.

“He’s got a big-time body with really some athletic feet,” Boggs said. “If he’ll work hard in the weight room and make himself as agile as possible and play that hard, the sky’s the limit. But, he was, he was pretty much unblockable and did a good job of pursuing as well.”