Lancer Day is here! Parade at 2 p.m., game at 7 p.m.

The 2011 seniors’ entry won the float competition at last year’s Lancer Day Parade.

Kids across the Prairie Village area have been waiting for today’s Lancer Day Parade at 2 p.m. But for Lancer Head Football Coach Chip Sherman, it’s 7 p.m. that can’t come soon enough.

“Every team, when you get to this point, is chomping at the bit for a game,” Sherman said. “You’ve done all the preparation you can do. Now you want to see where you are in real competition.”

A long, hot summer of training finally ends for the Lancers tonight when then line up against SM South at SM North Stadium. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Sherman said he’s been impressed with the team’s work ethic over the summer — in both the weight room and on the field. Though much of last year’s core of starters graduated, the level of chemistry and talent Sherman has seen from this year’s group has impressed him.

“They’ve worked really hard and they work well together,” he said.

But, Sherman said, he and the rest of the coaching staff won’t get a full sense of how the team is meshing until they play in an official game.

“You see areas where maybe you thought you were strong that end up needed a lot more work,” he said. “And you see areas you were worried about that end up to be in good shape. And you adjust from there.”

As for the Lancer Day Parade, Prairie Village Police will be blocking off Mission Road from 75th Street down past 71st Street starting just before 2 p.m. If you’re driving in the area around that time, you might plan to find an alternate route. We’ll post live updates from the parade when it begins.

(By the by, it’s a rain or shine event. And we probably want to prepare for it being a rain event…because the forecast shows a 100 percent chance for rain at 2 p.m. For real.)