Most freshmen don’t get noticed on the varsity football team, especially at the Class A or B level. Of course, most freshmen don’t walk out of the locker room with Jordan Hersom’s pedigree, either.

Hersom’s late grandfather is a local coaching legend. His father and uncle have carved out a championship resume as players and coaches. And his cousin was last year’s Fitzpatrick Trophy winner.

“He’s definitely got the family tradition going for him,” said Leavitt Area High School coach Mike Hathaway. “He’s going to contribute right away for us at split end and in the secondary.”

Already 6-foot-3, Hersom should be a natural fit at receiver for the pass-happy Hornets while being groomed as the quarterback of the future. Junior Eric Theiss is Leavitt’s signal-caller.

Jim Hersom, formerly of Livermore Falls and Edward Little, was his son’s head coach at Tripp Middle School. John Hersom has guided Lawrence High School of Fairfield to two straight Eastern Class A championships, with son Jack leading the Bulldogs at QB.

Twin brothers Jim and John starred for EL under the direction of their dad, Lawrence “Doc” Hersom, in the mid-1970s.

Clean bill of health

Several local football programs were blindsided by the injury bug last fall. The good news: Many of the afflicted were only juniors.

Oak Hill coach Bruce Nicholas is excited about the opportunity to fully unleash senior Drew Jannelle at fullback and middle linebacker.

“He broke both legs in a snowmobile accident two years ago,” Nicholas said. “This year he reported to camp 100 percent for the first time ever. He’s up to 225, 230 pounds, and we’re really excited to see what he can do at full strength.”

Mt. Blue’s bugaboo in recent seasons has been its run defense. Losing starting linebackers Alec Wallace in preseason and Chad Simoneau in Week 2 only complicated matters.

“Alec played the last two games last year after breaking his hand in the preseason,” said Mt. Blue coach Gary Parlin. “He’s had a great summer. “Chad only played the first seven quarters of the year. He’s back and he looks terrific.”

Offseason shoulder surgery should pave the way for Leavitt’s Drake McBreairty to be an all-conference caliber defensive back. He returns to a secondary where five different players started multiple games due to injuries in 2007.

School daze

If opening night of high school football season feels like it’s a week later this season, well, essentially it is.

Last year’s kickoff fell on August 31. Add a week, subtract two days for leap year and you get tonight’s more traditional Sept. 5 start-up.

Coaches had the usual two-and-a-half weeks to prepare their teams for the first regular-season contest. The oddity, however, was that this year the second week coincided with the first days of school for a majority of area students.

“That second week got messed up,” said Lewiston coach Bill County. “It normally would have been another week of two-a-days. Instead, I had a teacher’s workshop and a scrimmage that Monday (August 25), and I had to look at my principal a couple of hours into the day and say, ‘Sorry, I’ve got to leave.’ “

When the Maine Principals’ Association instituted time and uniform restrictions on the first week of football practice three years ago, many coaches viewed the second Monday as the beginning of bona fide workouts.

This year’s shift in school schedules further compressed those preparations.

“It’s based on the NCAA model, but the problem is that they have three full weeks of preseason and in reality we have two,” said Mt. Blue coach Gary Parlin. “We basically had (the first) Friday and Saturday to work on anything significant for our Monday scrimmage against Cony.”

Quick hits

• For the first time in the century-plus history of its football rivalry, Cony and Gardiner will not meet during the regular-season or postseason. The contest became a November exhibition when the Tigers dropped from Class A to B in 2006. This year’s 131st clash was moved to the final Friday night in August, with Gardiner winning, 14-13.

• Mountain Valley and York enter the Campbell Conference campaign as the only current members of Western Class B to win a regional title since 1997. Gorham, Scarborough and Kennebunk have all advanced to Class A, with Leavitt now in Eastern Maine.

• The newest addition to varsity football this season is a co-op effort from Calais and Woodland high schools. The Little Ten Conference needed a 12th team after Old Town dropped down from the PTC Class B to Class C this year, and Calais-Woodland, which played a few JV games last season, stepped in. The “Silverados” play their first game Friday night at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield.

• Leavitt tailback Tyler Green is one of only three 2007 All-Pine Tree Conference first teamers on offense back for the 2008 campaign. Green ran for 934 yards and nine touchdowns during the regular season. The other two remaining all-stars are kicker Scott Siviski of Winslow and punter Shawn Smith of Hampden Academy. Winslow linebacker Eric Bezanson is the only defensive honoree remaining.