Michael A. Lough: The first week of high school football got us off to a good start

So this is how it’s going to start, huh?

Northside has the precision of an aging alumni marching band for a half or so, ekes out a third-quarter touchdown, North Cobb goes into some sort of jogging mode, and the Eagles get a pick-six and win on the road in the final 21 seconds fully in spite of themselves.

And Howard goes and takes care of a GHSA Class AA ranked team, Lamar County, which very well might turn out pretty quickly to be less of a surprise than you think.

Vidalia gets a taste of the season without star linebacker Nate McBride and does so against Swainsboro, a rival just up U.S. 1 across Interstate 16. The Indians win 21-0, and Swainsboro fails to muster 100 yards in total offense.

Crawford County gave us a clue that last year was no fluke by thumping Mount Vernon Presbyterian, which was, by the way, the Eagles’ fifth straight win.

Roger Holmes probably had hives after watching his team score only three points, but he scratched happily since his defense threw a shutout over in a 3-0 win -- do you have any idea how rare 3-0 football games are? -- over Laney.

It’s doubtful many figured Dodge County would hammer Bleckley County by 35 points, but that’s what happened.

And then we had Howard, winner of 10 games in its history and only one season opener, taking on a ranked Class AA team and getting out of a 13-0 hole to win by nine.

Few people would have called that sort of score. And take note that this upset might become less of any upset a whole lot quicker than you think.

It might have been an abbreviated week of action, but it sure was interesting, and a sign that it’s sure time to put in your mouthpiece and strap your helmet on.

There isn’t a much better way to hop on the football freeway than the Veterans-Houston County game Thursday night. Had the Warhawks not struggled to a 3-8 record last year, we could expect an overflow crowd, but there are likely some skeptics in Kathleen.

This is a game of some headliner quarterbacks and a lot of players looking to make a few headlines of their own.

At Mercer, we’re looking at the strong possibility of Howard going 2-0 against teams that made the playoffs last year. Sure, Lamar County and FPD are smaller programs, but did we mention that Howard had won only 10 games -- out of 60 -- going into last week?

Vidalia’s visit to West Laurens is another huge game of ranked teams in different classes. The Raiders scored 45 points against Thomasville, which nobody has done since Fitzgerald’s 49-14 win in late 2009. And the Bulldogs have played the likes of Colquitt County, Lovett, Cairo, Thomas County Central and Valdosta in that span.

And there is Warner Robins riding over to Peach County, the Demons thinking about the 19-0 home loss a year ago and the Trojans grumbling about going 10-0 and then staggering to a 14-7 turnover-filled loss to Appling County in the first round of the Class AAA playoffs. I have absolutely no idea what’ll happen in this game.

There’s also the suspense of how good a rebuilding Washington County team -- which lost 40-19 to Dublin in a scrimmage -- will be at Thomson, which is coming off a 33-point win over Jefferson County.

There are matchups between Macon programs and that little rivalry between Jackson and Mary Persons that keeps blood flowing well in their communities. And most of the 11 ranked Middle Georgia teams are in action.

Throw in a few mornings this week of around 60 degrees, and indeed, the fun and suspense will only increase.

Contact Michael A. Lough at mlough@macon.com or 744-4626.

This story was originally published August 26, 2015 at 8:53 PM with the headline "Michael A. Lough: The first week of high school football got us off to a good start ."