By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

Welcome to High School Football Central!

This is designed to connect the dots for you.

Schedules, scores, standings to set the stage for the Friday’s games each week.

Or in the case of this week, a Thursday game, too.

For the first time in the long history of the Kent Roosevelt-Ravenna rivalry game, the two teams will meet on a Thursday to open the season.

Good luck to every team this season!

TODAY’S THEME: EMBRACE ALL OF THE LASTS

For the seniors, prepare yourself for a season of lasts.

In the blink of an eye, you walked in as a freshman with four “long” years ahead of you and now your senior season is right in front of you.

From now until the end of the season, the “blink” will go even faster.

Live in the moment of each week, but also be mindful that your season filled with goals will also be a season filled with lasts.

And there will be many of them.

The idea is not to get trapped into thinking about the “lasts” along the way, but rather to enter the season ready to enjoy every single moment.

Listen to your coaches closer.

Dig deeper to celebrate one last fourth-quarter comeback.

Love your teammates harder.

Be more receptive to conversations about the games and practices with your family.

Enjoy the locker room laughs, the bus rides, the film study, the gameplan preparation.

In three months, these opportunities will be gone.

You will miss it.

But you will miss it less if you go after every week with an appreciation for the journey.

WEEK 1 SCHEDULE

Thursday

Kent Roosevelt at Ravenna

Friday

Twinsburg at Aurora

Rootstown at Crestwood

Field at Mogadore

Garfield at Middlefield Cardinal

Southeast at Wickliffe

Streetsboro at CVCA

Waterloo at United

Lisbon David Anderson at Windham

WEATHER FORECAST

For Thursday’s Kent Roosevelt-Ravenna showdown, it looks like it may be wet.

Thunderstorms are shown as possible through the early evening.

Kickoff at 7 p.m. is expected to be cloudy and 74 degrees.

Another storm could also arrive around 9 p.m.

For Friday, the weather looks much more promising.

Kickoff at 7 p.m. on Friday will be 70 degrees and clear skies.

Temperatures will cool down by the fourth quarter, but not by much, to about 64 degrees.