My summer workout routine was simple.

Simply absent.

Yeah, I mowed the grass (weeds and desert, rather) in the hot summer sun. But really, that was maybe seven times and my younger brother will contest that he did the bulk of the cutting.

On some afternoons and rare evenings off, I took my bike out to Mill Creek MetroParks’ 12-mile trail through Canfield and Austintown. It’s a beautiful path with a few deceiving hills that provide just enough of a burn the next day.

Kenny Powers, the fictional baseball player from HBO’s Eastbound and Down, isn’t the best guy to take advice from. If you’ve ever seen the show you’ll know that none of his actions should be replicated. Yet, I still share his opinion on lifting weights.

“I’m not lifting that,” he said pointing to a pair of dumbbells in a first-season episode. “That’s heavy.”

And after a friend tried to get him to run and join a pilates class, Powers gawked. His response: “I play real sports, not trying to be the best at exercising.”

It was evident after the first week of high school football, area players turned their summer workouts into game-action.

Real sports. Real training.

“First off,” Ursuline RB Tramain Thigpen said after the Fighting Irish’s 41-24 win over East, “it was the conditioning and the hard work we put in.

“We conditioned every day [over the summer] and that helped our intensity to come back.”

The game was played in the peak of the afternoon, last Saturday, with temperatures climbing into the mid-90s. Cramps, pains and water breaks happened after seemingly every play in the three-plus hour contest. Play had to be stopped for nine players who suffered on the fresh Jack Antonucci Field grass.

“I knew they were going down at the end of the second quarter and we were going down, too,” Thigpen said. “I told my team not to fall like them.”

Niles wide receiver Marcus Hill agreed that he felt energized by actually playing a game. The summer workouts also paid off for him.

“This is what we trained for,” he said after the Red Dragons’ win against Girard. “Everything we did paid off in a win.”

The summer was also a time to develop and learn.

Former Division I quarterback Josh Swogger worked with Ursuline junior QB Chris Durkin. Boardman’s John Babos received instruction from ex-Youngstown State star Tom Zetts.

“I owe it all to him,” Babos said of his 10-of-12, 104-yard, two-touchdown performance against Cleveland Benedictine. “Coach Zetts has done a lot for me.”

It was Babos’ first real varsity time under center, yet he played like a seasoned veteran.

“When you’re physically and mentally tough, that’s all you need to be a great high school player,” Boardman coach Mark D’Eramo said. “We’ve known a long time that he’s a winner and a great leader.”

And the summer further ensured it.

“All the seniors were leaders in drills, on the practice field and especially in the weight room,” D’Eramo said.

It may take time to really believe that games are won in the summer. It’s easy to get down with the yelling, prodding and toughness of coaches.

Thigpen found that out in the first few workouts with new Ursuline head coach Larry Kempe.

“It’s a lot to start off with because he pushes,” Thigpen said. “Sometimes we don’t like how hard he pushes us, but in the end it pays off and gets us where we want to be.”

It’s the winning mentality that begins when it’s not easy and when it’s not fun. Catching passes, running between the tackles and just playing in front of thousands on Friday night are why a lot of kids come out for football.

But it takes much more than that.

It takes heart and a whole lot of determination in July and August to feel the autumn glory.

Matthew Peaslee is a sports reporter for The Vindicator. Email him at mpeaslee@vindy.com