photo by: Richard Gwin

Free State junior Gage Foster (5) gets a shoulder into Topeka's Stephen Carter on Monday June 6, 2016, during Kansas University's football camp.

For the first time in nearly seven months, Free State High football players put on their pads and lined up against another team.

The Firebirds looked more than ready to make contact against players who weren’t their teammates on the first of two days at Kansas University football camp. Free State scrimmaged Topeka High, Shawnee Mission South and Junction City in its afternoon session Monday.

“It’s great competition out here,” FSHS senior linebacker Jay Dineen said. “Watching everybody get better every day, and every rep, is awesome.”

At this time last year, the Firebirds were learning the basics of their “50” defense, which essentially puts five players at the line of scrimmage, two linebackers and four in the secondary.

Fast forward a season, and the Firebirds are confident that their defense won’t skip a beat when they step on the field this fall.

“It was a new defense last year for us, so it took us awhile. I think now we’re a little better, and we’re comfortable with it,” senior defensive end Noah Kema said. “We have a little more confidence and experience. I think that definitely helps. But with the younger kids, we still need to bring them along. Help them out because it’s still new to them.”

Wearing helmets and shoulder pads, but no football pants with knee pads, coaches blew their whistles to prevent tackles and potential injuries, urging players to stay on their feet.

But that didn’t stop every hit. Free State senior cornerback Zack Sanders pumped up his sideline when he drilled a receiver with his shoulder, earning a warning from his coaches.

With a core group of returners on defense — Kema, Sanders, Dineen and safety Zion Bowlin — the Firebirds expect to pick up where they left off last season. They blew up plenty of plays in the backfield Monday, though defenses are usually ahead of offenses at this point in the offseason.

“Oh yeah, I think our defense will be really good,” said Dineen, who has orally committed to play at KU. “We have a couple of spots to fill. A couple of things to work on. But it just comes with practice. We have the whole summer to go.”

Facing some of the top scoring offenses in the state, the Firebirds only allowed 13.7 points per game in their final seven contests. That included two shutouts against high-powered offenses, the school’s first shutouts since 2012.

“I think defensively we became a pretty good football team last year,” Free State coach Bob Lisher said. “We need to carry that over because we always pride ourselves on having a great defense.”

Kema was one of the players who thrived at the end of last season once he learned the ins and outs of the defensive line.

“Last year, I felt like I was a little undersized but I knew I could play the position,” Kema said. “I just worked really hard over the offseason and I’m just going to continue to work over the summer and see how good I can do. I just want to help out the team as much as I can.”

After a weeklong team camp in only helmets, the Firebirds were excited to take a few steps closer to full speed.

“I feel like our defense will do good,” Kema said. “We’re just working hard at it. That’s all we can really do.”

Lisher added: “Last week was more fundamentals and learning. This week, they get to put that to the test a little bit and try to improve on that. We’ll put this on film. We played some quality competition today and we’ll get to look at it on film and see where we can improve.”