By Byron Beers/Staff Writer

Dal Nichols knew that the first week of practice would be a great test to his El Reno football team.

Nichols knew there was a lot lacking as far as summer conditioning with a good majority of his players.

A good amount of time was spent in conditioning drills last week as the Indians took to the practice field for the first time.

Nichols was pleased with the progress of his team, even with high temperatures all week.

“We’ve been working hard on the conditioning,” Nichols said. “We’ve added a couple more things from where we started last year. I felt like last year we were in a little better shape coming into the season.

“So we’ve really worked hard in that area this week. I’ve really been pushing the conditioning part of the workouts for us. I hope it’s paying off and I think it is. We seem to be getting into pretty good shape.”