COLUMN: Opening night of football regular season is only 24 hours away

The football season officially begins tomorrow and I just can’t stop smiling. I love covering softball, volleyball is one of my favorite sports to edit photos for, but there’s something about the start of football season that compares to those iconic times of the year: Christmas, Thanksgiving, Super Bowl Sunday, Game one of the World Series and opening night of the NBA season. All of those occasions give me such a warm feeling and the start of high school football season is also prime time for people like me, sports writers, that live off of the exciting content generated by what the local football teams bring to the paper and online. Not to mention the social media posts I plan to make all season long via the Journal’s Facebook and Twitter feeds. Without the NFL the whereabouts and goings-on of the Warner Robins Demons, Perry Panther, Houston County Bears, Westfield School Hornets, Veterans Warhawks and Northside Eagles will be the only football I watch this season. (Editor’s Note: A reminder that I will be boycotting the 2018 NFL season due to reasons that I feel unnecessary to repeat. The football season in Houston County will be my top priority as usual.)

The pageantry of a football Friday in Georgia, and in particular at Herb St. John Stadium, Freedom Field and most certainly at McConnell-Talbert Stadium, is something that I believe cannot be duplicated anywhere else in the world, with all due respect. (Editor’s Note 2: I covered high school football in Alabama and those were great times too. They love the game as much as we do here in Georgia.) Having the pleasure of covering these teams, players, coaches (Some of their opinions may vary) and fan bases is a heck of a way to make a living I must say.

There will also be a focus on college football too, with an eye out for former Bears Jake Fromm at the University of Georgia, former Northside Eagles Tae Daley at Vanderbilt and Tobias Oliver at Georgia Tech, and a host of local players now playing their college ball at Fort Valley State University and at Mercer University as well. With all of the players from Houston County playing college football all over the country this fall -Good luck to former Demons Christian Armstrong at Florida State University and Jarius Burnette in California at Grossmont College- there will be plenty of stories in the paper not about high school football. The Houston Home Journal prides itself in being the best source for local sports information, coverage and photos courtesy of long time staff photographer and Warner Robins High School alumnus Geoff Dale and newcomer to the staff and fellow Houston County native Kasey Enckler. We are in our element when we are out on the football fields (and various other fields and courts) of this county and I hope it shows in the dedication we put forth in the sports section.

Friday, August 17 Schedule:

Northside at Centennial (Roswell), 7:30 p.m.

Houston County HOME OPENER v Perry, 7:30 p.m.

Veterans at Upson-Lee (Thomaston), 7: 30 p.m.

Warner Robins HOME OPENER v Tift County, 7:30 p.m.

Westfield opens season on Fri., Aug. 24 at Deerfield Windsor (Albany)