Fans’ guide to opening night
Expect kinder weather and some interesting matchups in earliest-ever start of season
It is the earliest start to a high school football season in Lehigh Valley history, beating the record set last year by one day.
That’s right, it’s Aug. 23 and the high school football season is starting.
For real.
Mother Nature apparently got word the season is beginning, and the temperature on Friday night is going to be much cooler than it has been most of the summer, and 10 degrees cooler than Thursday. The drop in heat will be welcomed by coaching staffs and players concerned about cramps from dehydration.
Officially, this first batch of games this weekend is known as Week Zero. No idea how or why the PIAA came up with that declaration, but to most people it’s Week 1 and even though school doesn’t begin
until Monday in most school districts, and even later in a few others, the games on Friday night will be the first major events of the 2019-20 school year.
Here are some things to look for:
Biggest new rule: The National Federation of State High School Associations has instituted a 40-second play clock to establish a more consistent period between downs.
Previously, the ball was marked ready-for-play when, after it had been placed for a down, the referee gave the ready-for-play signal and the 25-second count began.
According to the federation website, now the ball will be ready for play and the clock will begin immediately after the ball has been ruled dead by a game official after a down, the ball has been placed on the ground by the game official and the game
official has stepped away to get in position.
What impact it will have on the pace of a game remains to be seen. Best Week 1 matchup:
Northwestern Lehigh at Notre Dame-Green Pond in the Colonial League. The defending league champ hosts the team picked to win the title this year. Most intriguing Week 1 matchup: East Stroudsburg South at Whitehall. It’s the battle of first-year Matts as new Cavaliers coach Matt Walters goes against new Zephyrs coach Matt Senneca. Best Saturday game: Defending
EPC North champ Stroudsburg visits a much improved Allentown Central Catholic team at J. Birney Crum Stadium. Toughest Game 1 assignment: Tie between Dieruff’s new coach Dave Lutte facing three-time PIAA Eastern finalist Bethlehem Catholic at noon Saturday at Moravian College, and Pleasant Valley’s Blaec Saeger taking his Bears to Bethlehem Area School District Stadium to face Liberty on Friday night.
Most familiar face: With the retirement of Ed Christian at East Stroudsburg South last season — he was the head coach for 38 seasons and on the sidelines for 52 years overall — the local coach who has been with his current program the longest is Pocono Mountain West’s Jim McCarroll, who
starts his 18th season Saturday afternoon when the Panthers welcome Easton.
Best venue: The traditionalists insist it’s Easton’s Cottingham Stadium, which will undergo a major renovation after this season.
Best scoreboard: The jumbotron-styled scoreboard at Nazareth’s Andy Leh Stadium that shows the kind of stuff usually seen at pro and major college stadiums.
Best band: Liberty’s Grenadier Band still produces goosebumps from many when it plays “Rule Britannia!” But Easton and Freedom are also very good, and Stroudsburg offers the most entertaining band in Monroe
County. Best refreshment stand:
BASD’s stand near the Elizabeth Avenue gate, where you have a good selection of food, and you might get a “Har-dee, har, har” laugh from Tim Fisher, a big “Honeymooners” fan who helps run the stand.
Best entrance: The bagpiper who usually leads the Notre Dame football team onto the field.
Best ticket-taker: Nazareth’s Andy Weaver, who looks forward to his job so much that he has been counting down the days till opening night all summer.
Best new facility: Northwestern Lehigh is installing synthetic turf at its stadium along with a new track. Facility in most need of repair: Southern Lehigh’s field has issues. Major ones. The
Spartans have already moved their first two home games to other stadiums. Facility most overdue for
renovation: The fieldhouse at J. Birney Crum Stadium, which hasn’t changed much since the stadium opened in 1948.
Best bet: The outcry for separate state tournaments will resurface when a private or charter school defeats a public school in either the district or state tournament.
Best hope: That one or more local teams will be playing on the weekend of Dec. 5-6-7 in Hershey when the PIAA championship games are held.