The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High Eagles football players took the field for practice at 12:01 a.m. Monday for their first practice of the season.
Under Florida law, teams could begin their fall workouts on July 30th -- and the Eagles wasted no time!
At 2:15 a.m., the team was celebrating the end of their first practice with a water balloon fight.
Finally, on a campus known for tragedy, there was joy.
The Eagles — now ambassadors for a school and a community that in many ways is still reeling from the Feb. 14 massacre that led to the deaths of 17 people, including assistant football coach Aaron Feis — are prepping for a new season.
Douglas has had the "midnight madness" practice on opening day several times before, but this was different.
A uniformed sheriff's deputy was on campus throughout the evening, his patrol vehicle parked adjacent to the field during practice. The site of the shootings — the 1200 building — is still there, cordoned off by a chain-link fence. Many want it leveled, but for now it stands because it's essentially evidence, a crime scene.
The season will begin with the start of the new school year in September.