It's time to rock.
Fifty-five high school football openers are on tap Friday, 12 are on Saturday's card, and the biggest of them all, Sunday afternoon's showdown between juggernauts Archbishop Wood and Pittsburgh Central Catholic, gets the ESPN2 treatment.
Before the first pigskin gets booted into the air, we present you with some noteworthy items, interesting nuggets, and an idea of what to expect in Southeastern Pennsylvania and beyond.
As always, we close with our can't-miss predictions.
For those who have complained regularly about the length of the high school football season, relief appears to be on the way.
In May, the PIAA board of directors voted to consider a proposal that would shorten the season from 16 to 15 weeks. Two months later, the board unanimously passed it on a first-reading basis.
If the proposal passes two more readings, in October and December, a 15-week season would take effect beginning in 2012. Next year's football season would conclude the weekend of Dec. 7-8 instead of Dec. 14-15.
Rod Stone, president of the PIAA board of directors and District 1 chairman, said talk of shortening the football season has been brought up before but "only recently gained momentum."
If the proposal passes as expected, a district would have to (A) slash a round of playoffs or (B) with PIAA approval, move the season up and play the opener, instead of a scrimmage, at the end of the second week of preseason practice.
"This might not be ideal for everyone involved," Stone said, "but it may finally solve the problem of football being played so close to Christmas."
If the PIAA gives the OK, each district would decide which option works best for member schools. Stone said he hopes to meet with District 1's football steering committee, made up of coaches from participating leagues, sometime this month to gauge opinion on the matter.
If District 1 opted for Plan A, that would mean the Class AAAA tournament would be trimmed from 16 teams to eight. The Class AAA tourney also would be cut in half, from eight to four. Both tournaments were expanded in 2006 (AAA was initially bumped up to six teams).
Stone expects more resistance to Plan A to come from AAA schools, since only four would qualify for the postseason if the playoff weekend were axed.
In District 12, Public and Catholic officials also would have to decide whether to start the season earlier or tinker with their respective playoff systems.
Stay tuned.
