GREENE COUNTY — Leaves are falling. There’s a crispness in the air. The crunch of shoulder pads eminates from practice fields everywhere, and everybody is in the hunt for a post season playoff spot.
Must be the first week of high school football!
Starting with Thursday night’s neighborhood showdown in Riverside, the 2018 high school football season is now under way for our Greene County area schools. Yeah, yeah, we know. Carroll, a member of the Greater Catholic League Co-ed, technically is located in Montgomery County. We get it. But several of their student athletes hail from Greene County. Besides, it may be un-American to dis the Patriots. Can’t have that, now can we?
Carroll went 1-9 last season, with their only win coming over … the Stebbins Indians, a 27-12 Week 1 win at Carroll.
Football Fridays are traditionally when things get under way, and six Greene County high school teams will hit the gridiron on Aug. 24. And no, a gridiron isn’t for making waffles.
Oddly enough, five of the six area Friday football teams will be playing their season opener on the road.
Cedarville likely has the longest road trip of the bunch. The Indians head northwest, beyond Greenville and almost to the Ohio-Indiana border, to the little town of Union City to take on the Mississinawa Valley Blackhawks. Cedarville also finished last season at 1-9, but they closed out the campaign with a convincing win over Catholic Central. Judging from the Indians’ practices this summer, they’re riding that momentum into 2018.
Fellow Ohio Heritage Conference Greeneview will also be heading northwest. They may even take the same Route 49 to get there, but the Rams will stop off in Arcanum to take on the Arcanum Trojans. Like Mississinawa Valley, Arcanum plays in the Cross County Conference.
Greeneview was our area’s most successful team a year ago. The Rams finished 10-0 in the regular season before falling to Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy in the opening round of the Division V postseason playoffs.
The Southwestern Buckeye League’s Bellbrook Golden Eagles have a decent haul for their opening night of football. Bellbrook heads north to take on Tippecanoe up in Tipp City. The Golden Eagles finished last season at 7-3 and held their last two opponents scoreless.
Fairborn heads north as well for Week One. The Skyhawks will be in New Carlisle to take on Tecumseh. Last season, Fairborn defeated the Arrows, 32-46, in the opener and finished the season at 4-6.
Beavercreek has the only home game of the bunch this week, a Backyard Battle with traditional opening week foe Xenia. The Beavers beat Xenia by a 35-6 score on the Buccaneers’ field last season on their way to a 6-4 record.
The last time Xenia defeated Beavercreek was back on Aug. 29, 2014, a 50-7 victory. Coincidentally, the last time the Bucs had a won-loss record over 5-5 was … 2014 when they were 6-4.
According to their respective schedules, each of the Friday night games are set for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
