Andrew Grimm
It’s the fourth Friday in August. The air is a little crisper. The Jefferson County Fair is over. The kids are back in school. Summer is coming to an end. These signs all point to one thing: It’s football season in the Ohio Valley.
Tonight marks the start of the first full schedule of games in Ohio. For some teams it started the night before, for those across the river it started a week later, but for the most part it’s football time.
There is nothing comparable to the first week of football in this area.
Getting here has taken a long summer of preparation, training and anticipation. There is optimism in every community as speculation about how the team will do. In the cafes and restaurants and barber chairs, there are discussions about who should start at quarterback. Discussions about game plans and who might make the playoffs. Many coaches and players have asked what the team looks like this year. And now, the time has finally come.
These debates will be settled and questions answered on a 10-week journey that begins tonight.
And it’s going to be a fast journey. It won’t feel like long at all until we’re watching the scoreboard in Week 10 to see who’s competing in Week 11. They don’t call it the fastest 10 weeks for nothing.
But let’s enjoy the ride, from the moment the players strap on their pads and tie their boots tonight.
