By Eric Lusk
Sports Editor
elusk@elkintribune.com

Don’t look now, but football season will be here before you know it.

Though it feels like summer just began, the first official high school football practice is only two weeks from this Saturday. That’s right, in mere days coaches will be handing out equipment and running their first “county fair” conditioning drills.

The first night of regular season games is less than six weeks away.

While I’m a big fan of an endless summer, I usually start succumbing to football fever when we cross over July 4. Right on schedule, that happened again this year as the final fireworks extinguished from Elkin’s brilliant show two weekends ago.

From a sports editor’s standpoint, the 2008 football season will be tough to beat.

Starmount and Elkin both advanced to the state semifinals in their respective playoff brackets (I cover the Buckin’ Elks for The Tribune, a sister publication to The Ripple). Between them, the two teams won 23 games and six playoff contests — dominating the headlines in my two papers for most of November and into early December.

This season, Starmount will be reunited with both Elkin and East Wilkes as conference partners in the new-look Mountain Valley 1A/2A. The split league also will feature Forbush, Wilkes County’s three other high schools (North, West and Central) as well as Ashe County and Alleghany.

Surry Central, which has played in a conference with Starmount and Forbush the past four years, will join the Northwest 1A/2A with Mount Airy, North Surry, East Surry, North Stokes, West Stokes, South Stokes and Bishop McGuinness.

Tribune and Ripple Country could be ground zero for MVAC title contenders. Based on last year’s results and who’s coming back this year, Elkin and Starmount both have to be at the forefront of any championship conversation.

East Wilkes looks to be a dark-horse candidate in this new league, considering the Cardinals could have one of the most prolific backfields in the area with the healthy return of Aaron Bauguess and others who carried the load last year.

Not excited yet? Maybe pondering these upcoming area match-ups will help you catch the fever:


Aug. 21: Opening Night

There’s always something special about Friday nights in the late summer and fall, but the first Friday of games usually has an extra burst of energy about it. Optimism still runs high on every sideline. The uniforms sparkle with newness. A golden sun usually hangs around for more than an hour after kickoff before setting behind stadium bleachers packed with fans.

Opening Night 2009 will feature intriguing match-ups for our area.

The marquee game is Starmount at Mount Airy, a battle between a 2A state semifinalist and the 1A state champion. Mount Airy won the past two season openers handily, but this year’s meeting should be more even-handed.

The winner will have a nice dose of confidence heading into the rest of its schedule.

Other opening night match-ups include Elkin renewing its football series with Surry Central after a lengthy absence and Forbush entertaining North Surry.


Aug. 28: East Surry at Starmount

This game used to be one of the biggest draws on the schedule for both teams. Then conferences were realigned in 2005, and neither school could fit the other on its football slate for the next four year.s

The Rams ended up having to play teams like 4A Davie County and East Burke. Both from a football standpoint and a gate standpoint, Starmount certainly will be glad to see this rivalry game return with its Pilot Mountain neighbor.


Sept. 11: Elkin at East Wilkes

The border war between the Elks and Cardinals comes early this year. In fact, it’s the conference opener for both teams.

East Wilkes came within a whisker of beating Elkin last season, falling by a missed two-point conversion in overtime. The Cards will have home field advantage for this rematch, which will set the tone for both teams in terms of the new-look Mountain Valley Conference.


Sept. 11: Starmount at Forbush

There was a time when it looked like the Rams and Falcons would be separated in the latest conference realignment. But the final revision kept the two Yadkin rivals together.

That’s a good thing for Yadkin sports and the schools’ football rivalry, because the annual Unifi Bowl contest will mean more than bragging rights. Continuing a recent trend, this game will kick off the conference schedule for each squad.

Forbush gets the added bonus of hosting the Unifi Bowl for the second consecutive year.

Sept. 25: Charlotte Latin at Elkin

The Buckin’ Elks landed a doozy of an opponent for its annual endowment game. The Hawks have been an independent schools power for several years, posting a 9-3 record last fall, 13-0 in 2007, 13-1 in 2006 and 11-2 in 2005.

It will be interesting to see how Elkin approaches this game. It’s a non-conference duel tucked between key conference games against Ashe County (Sept. 18) and Starmount (Oct. 2).


Oct. 2: Elkin at Starmount

There were many who thought the annual Battle of the Bridge would be moved to the end of the season when the Elks and Rams were put back into a conference together. But instead it’s coming in the middle of the league schedule.

It shouldn’t matter. It’s a conference game again and that should raise the level of intensity — on the field and in the stands — back to pre-2005 levels, when the two often played with plenty on the line.

Many pundits are picking Starmount and Elkin to lead the way in the MVAC for 2009, so this Battle of the Bridge could come with two trophies as a reward.

Oct. 16: East Wilkes at Wilkes Central

Winning the mythical county championship is a big deal to the Wilkes schools. This year‘s county bragging rights title could come down to this game in Moravian Falls.


Oct. 23: North Surry at Surry Central

During the debate over how to realign area conferences, the Golden Eagles worried about being separated from their three most natural rivals — North Surry, Mount Airy and East Surry. The first realignment draft released by the state had them in separate leagues, but the final one brought them together again.

This game should produce a nice gate in Dobson and a nice battle between county rivals.


Oct. 30: Elkin at Wilkes Central

This late-season game could sort out the final spots in the Mountain Valley 1A/2A championship race...


Nov. 6: Wilkes Central at Starmount

... and so could this one. (Forbush will play at Elkin on this same evening).