Bowie
The Bowie Jackrabbits kick off their season playing familiar foe 4A Graham this week to give their team a big test right out of the gate.
The Jackrabbits are trying to bounce back this season after a tough year, with new coaches and systems on both sides of the ball.
The bigger Steers are coming off a 6-5 season and a playoff appearance, including a 41-22 win against Bowie last year to open the season while returning 13 of their 22 starters last year.
Coach Tyler Price will officially be leading the Jackrabbits in his first game as the head coach and thinks Graham might be one of the toughest teams on the schedule.
The Steers return a lot of skill position players while running an up-tempo offense, using a lot of run-pass-options to try and make defenses uncomfortable.
With that in mind, Price wants his team to hopefully dominate the ball control on offense, keeping the ball away from Graham while grinding away offensive possessions.

Nocona
The Nocona Indians head into their first game this week against Era on the road.
The Indians go into the game confident, but some concerns on defense and with turnovers on offense being an issue in its two scrimmages means Nocona still has some stuff to iron out.
The Indians beat the Hornets last year to open the season 41-22.
Era won only one game last year so this year’s team is doing some different things.
On defense, the Hornets are using the 3-3 stack which could be used to bring more pressure along with switching up its coverage from man-to-man to more zone.
On offense, Era looks to be passing the ball more this season than in previous years, which puts more emphasis on the defensive backs and on trying to get pressure up front.

Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers open the season at Trinidad this week in a game they are going into without knowing too much.
After exchanging film with the Trojans, only about 35 plays were run by Trinidad in its two scrimmages which is not a lot to get a feel for the team.
Coach Mark Stevens said the Trojans have two fast running backs, but is not worried about what his team doesn’t know.
Trinidad is coming off a 2-8 season and has the smaller team with its roster in the single-digits. Even if things are more competitive than Stevens anticipates, Saint Jo’s superior depth will give it an advantage.

Gold-Burg
The Gold-Burg Bears are heading into their opening game hoping to get some revenge.
The Bears lost to Perrin-Whitt last year 37-27 and Gold-Burg players are hoping to rectify it this season.
Gold-Burg returns all but one starter and the team is heading into the season with a lot of confidence.
Both scrimmages the team has shown good early season signs of playing well, while still having some room for improvement in other areas. Besides one starter dealing with what is hopefully a minor injury, the team is looking good healthwise.
New Coach Christian Healer thinks he’s prepared his team well for the first game, emphasizing conditioning so it will not fall in the second half of a competitive game.

Forestburg
The Forestburg Longhorns open their season against a private school this week.
Dallas Lake Hill is a division II private school, which is a bit bigger than the Longhorns, but Coach Greg Roller hopes it’s not too much bigger.
It was a replacement when another school backed out, which Roller was glad about since the Warriors look like they will give his team more of a challenge.
He compares them favorably, at least on defense, to defending district champion Newcastle.
On defense, Lakehill runs keeps two safeties back to prevent long pass plays while most defenses run man-to-man.

To read the full story, pick up copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.