It's less than two weeks before Georgiana opens the season against Samson, and the Panthers are already heading down the home stretch.

First-year head coach Greg Ennis said Monday that his club is beginning to fine tune its offense, defense and kicking game.

"As long as they step up and play hard, then I feel like we've got a chance," Ennis said.

Even with the Panthers' season opener coming a week from Friday, Georgiana has already gotten into game-week mode. The Panthers will face Escambia County at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Harmon Field in a preseason game.

"We are approaching this just like game week," Ennis said. "We practice in shorts and shoulder pads on Monday, full pads on Tuesday, go half and half on Wednesday and finish up early on Thursdays," he explained.

But Ennis said the Panthers are no where near ready to play a game.

Still Ennis is ready to see his club against another group. He has already devised a plan for playing some of his key people, too.

His starting backfield of Zane Stackhouse and Will Langham will only see action in the first quarter and then sit out for the remainder of the game. Quarterbacks Joel May and Zebbie Mitchell will work alternate quarters.

"I really want to see how we react under the lights," Ennis said. "I want to see if they go out there wide-eyed or they act like they've done this before. If they go out there wide-eyed, then they are going to make mistakes."

Last week, Ennis said there were some question marks along the offensive line. Apparently those questions have now been answered. He's settled on a starting unit that he is eager to see work against a different defensive unit.

May, who started last season for the Panthers, may yet be tabbed as their starter since he has seen most of the repetitions in practice.

May worked with the first-team offense on Monday getting the ball down field either through the air or via the ground game.

Ennis also has changed his role at quarterback by allowing him to work out of the pocket if necessary.

"We want to use his athletic ability more by having him sprint out more," the Panthers coach said. "He coming along fine in learning the offense. I think he'll do fine when it counts."