ROCHELLE — The Hubs varsity football team received its first dose of game action Friday evening, with players on both offense and defense taking the field at Rochelle Township High School for the program’s annual Purple & White scrimmage game.

Rochelle is less than one week away from its season-opener against the Corliss Trojans, and head coach Kevin Crandall said his players are excited to suit up and hit the gridiron after going 6-5 and qualifying for the postseason in 2016.

“It’s exciting for the kids to get out on the game field,” Crandall said. “They had a few fans in the stands.”

The Hubs are returning several starters on offense including All-Conference honorees Kyle Eyster and Alex Harvey. Senior quarterback Noah Mershon will be under center once again, and senior Ehren Metzger will look to fill the void left by Rochelle graduate Matt Albers. Juniors Brandon Johnson and Eddie Villalobos have split reps in practice at tailback, the position vacated by graduate Kaywan Palmer.

“We just need to play a game,” Crandall said. “We had a really good week of practice… It’s time to hit somebody else. I think we’re pretty good up front and we have one of the best running backs in the conference in Alex Harvey… We have decent depth in the backfield.”

Crandall said his defensive front is one of the strongest he’s had in quite some time. That front includes All-Conference lineman James Kerfin, with Metzger returning at the second level after earning All-Conference recognition last year. The Hubs allowed just seven points per game in their six victories last season with three shutouts (Corliss, Ottawa and Geneseo), but the team is losing three starters in the secondary (Steven Eychaner, Chris Clark and Palmer) and two outside linebackers (Sam Christensen and Dante Contreras).

“Any time you’re replacing all five on the back end it’s pretty scary, but there are kids who’ve had opportunities to play in the past,” Crandall said. “Brendon Danekas played some snaps last year and Eddie Villalobos played a few snaps. Hopefully we can get them up to speed and give them some game experience before they’re really tested.”

Villalobos will return as Rochelle’s starting kicker on special teams, while Johnson could step in again as the Hubs’ starting punter. Crandall said his teams have typically been solid on special teams, but after surrendering two punt return touchdowns in a loss to the Sterling Golden Warriors last season, Crandall will be looking for his special teams groups to be locked in this fall.

“We’ve always been real solid so I’d assume we’ll be solid again,” he said.

The Hubs will host Corliss on Friday, Aug. 25 at 7 p.m. before hitting the road the following week for a game against the Johnsburg Skyhawks. Rochelle hasn’t lost to Corliss in over a decade, but Crandall had a stern message for his team after Friday’s scrimmage game.

“We just talked about how this is time we can never get back,” Crandall said. “If we don’t come to practice everyday with a sense of purpose, at some point that’s going to catch up to us, and that point could be sooner rather than later.”