By JOSH ETHRIDGE/For the Reporter

The Kingwood Christian Lions will be taking part in a round-robin style jamboree game Fri. Aug, 22. They will play two quarters of football against Cornerstone Christian and two quarters against Restoration Academy.

This will be the first football action these teams have seen since the 2013 season. Kingwood Head Coach Steve Birmingham said he sees it as a good opportunity to gauge where his team is at headed into the 2014 season.

“We are anxious to kick the season off and see where we are at and the jamboree will give us a chance to do that,” he said. “It will give us a chance to make adjustments on anything that needs to be tweaked before regular season starts.”

Birmingham said he sees the importance of having a jamboree game that does not count for or against the regular season record. Getting a practice run against teams they will face later in the season is beneficial.

“It’s a huge benefit because the game doesn’t count in your regular season,” Birmingham said. “Everybody is rusty this time of year and we can kind of see what areas we need to work on and where our strengths and weaknesses are.”

There are a lot of unknowns for the Lions going into the games Friday. Following the 2013 season they lost around 30 percent of their roster, Birmingham said. The jamboree will initiate the new group of starters.

“We lost nine seniors which is big when you only have 25 on the roster, it’s a huge void to fill,” he said. “They’ve worked hard this summer, have shown a lot of desire and heart, and are looking forward to hitting the field.”

Birmingham said he doesn’t know what to expect from the teams they are facing Friday. A lot changes in the offseason in private school football but this Friday will answer a lot of questions.

“Restoration is usually pretty physical and Cornerstone has picked up some players in the offseason so they will be a lot better,” said Birmingham. “We are just looking forward to lining up and seeing how we match up with them this season.”