Our high school football season has kicked off, and there is excitement about all of our teams.

There truly is nothing like high school football in Georgia and especially here below the Gnat Line. It’s more than just two hours of blocking and tackling, or fullback isos and safety blitzes. 

It’s a pageantry all its own, from marching bands at halftime to cheerleaders throwing mini footballs into the stands after touchdowns and to the generations of fans sitting in the stands — all the way from steamy late August and early September evenings to the late fall chill of November and possibly December. 

It’s not just school spirit in the stands. It’s a community spirit, too. The fans in the stands are from all walks of life. Their support and interest crosses socioeconomic lines, racial lines, religious lines and political beliefs across the spectrum.

They may cheer just as loudly and proudly on Saturdays and Sundays for someone else, but for those Friday nights in Georgia, in stadiums big and small and in places easy to find and tucked away on a map that the best directions are look for the lights in the trees, they will cheer together. They will commiserate of a loss and trade high-fives after a big play or a win.

And as the wise Frank “Poppa D” Delaney Jr. has observed on more than one occasion, if you have a good year in football, you tend to have a good year in the halls of the school, too. 

We’re lucky to have good programs and good coaches and administrations with which to work and we wish them success this year and we wish their fans to have as much enjoyment with it as we do.