The Montgomery County football team will be back in action on July 29 as the dead period schedule for all fall sports teams approaches.

The Wildcats will take on the Winfield Warriors in a 7-on-7 scrimmage at 6 p.m. at Winfield High School, their last activity before returning to the field on Aug. 10 for their first day of practice.

The dead period for football, volleyball, softball and cross country teams is Aug. 1-Aug. 9. During this dead period, there should be no activities and sports-related activities at the R-II school campus.

The MCHS football team had an active summer, participating in a 13-school Hut-Hut Camp in Higginsville and a pair of 7-on-7 scrimmages at South Callaway.

“It was good,” MCHS coach Matt Smith said. “We learned a lot. We got some work to do. It was an opportunity to see some of these kids play. We got quite a few freshmen. We got some sophomores who are going to be playing a lot of varsity minutes, so it was a good opportunity to see them play varsity competition.”

Also this summer, the Wildcats raised $7,200 that helped pay for new football equipment, helmets, shoulder pads and video equipment. The team purchased a drone to capture game footage.

The Wildcats have eight seniors, seven juniors, 10 sophomores and 14 freshmen on their team. Among the players who plan to return this fall are seniors Lafe McCurdy, Owen See, Isaac Hinkel, Dallas Hans, Tyler Rodgers and juniors Jackson Benney, Marshall Bishop, Braydin Finch, Elake Vance, Cohen Beattie and Lucas Bender.

McCurdy was one of two MCHS players (the other was Colby Ellis) who earned all-state honors in 2025 and was named to the all-district and all-Eastern Missouri Conference teams. Rodgers, Hinkel and Benney received all-league notice last fall.

“We’re going to be gaining a lot of experience and that’s the big thing,” Smith said. “We have guys who need to gain experience, especially some of our sophomores. They’re going to have to play big roles for us. We need to gain more experience and that’s going to come with practice and obviously being in games. But we’re excited and we’re getting going.”

Smith said Benney and Bishop are battling for the starting quarterback job. One of them will replace Adrian Combs, who graduated in May.

“Early on, we were kind of thinking that Jackson Benney was going to be our guy, but he had elbow surgery, so he couldn’t go to Hut-Hut,” Smith said. “So we went to Marshall. For not ever playing a position, Marshall did great. He came in, he listened, he was coachable and he did some good things for us. Jackson has been working his way back in there, but I don’t want to completely throw Marshall to the wind. He’s going to be playing somewhere, probably their tight end or quarterback.”

The Wildcats begin their season on Aug. 28 with a home game against Hermann. They added California (Moniteau County) to their schedule and that contest is scheduled for Sept. 11 at Jim Blacklock Field.

Smith returns for his second season as MCHS coach. A year ago, he coached the Wildcats back on the winning track as MCHS finished 9-3 and captured its district championship in 20 years.

It was the most successful season by a first-year coach since Ben Blank, who coached the Wildcats to a 12-2 record and a second-place finish in the Class 2 state tournament in 2005.