By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

The Callaway Cavaliers put the pads on and shared the field with a trio of other teams on an overcast and mild Wednesday morning.

Callaway, Central-Carroll, Harris County and Howard participated in an 11-on-11 padded camp on Wednesday that was held on the Callaway practice field.

The camp gave the coaches for the schools an opportunity to see the players in a game-like setting, and Callaway head coach Pete Wiggins felt it was “a very productive day for four high schools.”

“I thought each school got better,” Wiggins said. “It was great sportsmanship today. It was physical. Each team got a lot of reps. It’s what you want from a coaching standpoint as far as getting reps against quality teams that are well-coached, and have good players. I think today was a great success.”

The camp was the final organized activity of what has been a busy month for the Cavaliers.

In addition to the daily workouts at the school, Callaway’s players have participated in position camps, as well as three seven-on-seven competitions.

While Wiggins believes every activity has value, he enjoys the padded camp because it more closely resembles what the players will see on Friday nights when the season begins.

“I like the padded camps from a physicality standpoint,” Wiggins said. “Your offensive and defensive lines, your linebackers and your tight ends, they get tested in situations like today, against good teams in Harris County, and Howard, and Central-Carroll. So I thought that the padded camp today was very beneficial for us toward getting ready for the season.”

Callaway will have workouts at the school this morning before the players take a break.

Team activities aren’t allowed the week of July 4th because of the Georgia High School Association-mandated dead week.

“I think we’ve had a great month of June in the weight room, and seven-on-sevens, and the padded camp, and the Hodges offensive-line camp,” Wiggins said. “I think tomorrow we’ll finish up with a good day in the weight room, and the kids will take a week off, and they deserve it. It’ll be good for them.”

The Cavaliers are coming off another phenomenal season under Wiggins, who is 126-45 in his 15 seasons as Callaway’s head coach.

Callaway went 11-3 last season and lost a hard-fought game to Rockmart in the Class AA semifinals.

Callaway has a preseason game against Starr’s Mill on Aug. 16 before opening the regular season on Aug. 22 at Opelika.

Callaway has five games before beginning its Region 5-AA schedule on Sept. 26 against Temple.