We’re just barely halfway through August, but it’s that time again.
The football season officially kicks off this week, and as you can tell by our paper today, we are ready for it. Sports editor Robbie Robertson and the rest of the Newton County Appeal staff put together this year’s annual Football 2017 preview in today’s edition.
This fall begins my 15th season covering high school football in some form or fashion, and I think this is probably the best football preview that I’ve ever seen.
True, I may be a little biased, but our staff did a tremendous job putting it together. We hope you enjoy that preview section as we start the season.
That being said, I also hate that the football season is starting so early. High school football used to start either the week before colleges or sometimes on Labor Day weekend, when most colleges started.
This year, the Labor Day holiday will come after three weeks of the 11-week schedule is completed. That also means we’ll be dealing with the heat timeouts at the 6:00 mark of each quarter for more than half of the season. I’m glad we have the water break timeout, but I’d rather see the football season being pushed back a little bit.
The weather doesn’t really start to feel like football weather until late in the season. The start of October was always the midpoint of the season, but now it’s the home stretch of the season.
All but one of the homecoming games will be played in September, a month earlier than the traditional October homecoming dates.
As I read what I’ve written, I’m starting to sound like I’m talking about the good ole days. However, I’m glad that some things have gotten better over the years.
Coaching is definitely one of them. I think we have some of the finest high school coaches in the state right here in Newton County.
They’ve probably forgotten more football knowledge than I’ll ever knew.
And we have some phenomenal athletes right here in our backyard.
It’s going to be a great season. Good luck to everyone!
Contact Brent at bmaze@-newtoncountyappeal.com.
