The first scrimmages of August will held this week as the Byrd football and volleyball teams prepare for their coming fall seasons.

The William Byrd football team will be scrimmaging at Franklin County High School at 6 pm on Friday. Franklin County is coached by former William Byrd quarterback JR Edwards, and he was happy to go up against his former coach, Jeff Highfill, in a controlled scrimmage situation.

Franklin County and Jefferson Forest have replaced Martinsville and Gretna as scrimmage partners for Byrd this year. The Terriers will play at Jefferson Forest in a game-like situation next Friday, August 18. Byrd will open the regular season with Cave Spring at home on the new artificial turf surface at Patterson Stadium on August 25.

The Terriers are now practicing on the new turf. They had to wait for the new track to be finished before they could cross onto the field, and on Tuesday afternoon they were given the okay to play on the new surface. It drew mostly favorable reviews.

“Ideally you want a nice, Bermuda grass field for football,” said Byrd coach Jeff Highfill. “But in our situation, with so many teams using the field, this is the best option.”

The Byrd volleyball team has a home scrimmage scheduled for tonight. The Terriers will play host to James River at 7 pm.

Next week Byrd will scrimmage E.C. Glass in Lynchburg on Tuesday, then open at home in the refurbished William Byrd High School gym on Tuesday, August 22.