Week 1 Preview Capsules

The Southwest Roughriders have been pushing their own pads since Aug. 8. They open their season at Sutherland.

High temps only hitting the 70s and aromas like a polish dog feed at Southern Valley only confirm what every area sports fan should know:

Football's in the air and hitting Nebraska at full speed starting Friday evening.

Top five teams will be visiting both McCook and Cambridge. A fantastic 42-36 rematch awaits those who attend Araphoe at Axtell.

There are entertaining names like Wonderly Brady of Dundy County-Stratton who will be filling the nine varsity games filling McCook's area schedule.

While the monster McCook-Aurora matchup is featured on Page 8 today, here's a rundown of reasons why all these other eight contests are clearly worth watching.

Perkins County at Cambridge

Why not make your historic eight-man football debut against one of the best teams in Nebraska?

Perkins County brings a No. 4 state ranking from the Omaha World-Herald after scoring 92-0, 81-12 and 73-0 victories among nine wins last season.

Cambridge counters with players who out- weigh most anyone from Perkins like 250-pound, 6'5" sophomore lineman Tyler Borland. The Trojans are aiming to improve on their 3-6 record in that final 11-man year.

"The biggest adjustment is the spend and the tackling," Cambridge coach Scott Porter said. "The epic camps (this summer) did a lot to help us with that. We're miles ahead of where we'd have been without those three camps."

Stapleton at Hitchcock County

Don't let the combined 1-15 record from last year fool you.

Stapleton counted heavily on freshmen while Hitchcock might own the most impressive heavy trio: 280-pound senior Matt Johnson, 285-pound freshman Gage Peterson and 275- pound senior Dakota Hagan.

Stapleton (0-8 last year) returns a duo that delivered better than 1,300 rush-pass yards. Yet stopping opponents was the trouble: opponents scored 532 points or better than 66 per contest.

Arapahoe at Axtell

The Warriors followed a freshman to victory last year, and Gentry Anderson proved he could be dangerous throwing or catching pigskins.

Anderson caught just two passes against the Wildcats, but gained 107 yards and tallied a crucial touchdown in the Arapahoe's 42-36 win.

He would eventually throw nine TDs before the 11-game season was completed with only three interceptions.

Could another freshman make an impact Friday night. Arapahoe's Cooper Anderson is listed as a 6'3", 265-pound noseguard.

The Axtell Wildcats must replace a 1,400 yard rusher and a 1,000 yard passer who both graduated -- so another Warrior win clearly appears within reach.

Cozad at Chase County

Can Fisher knock out the Haymakers' victory hopes again?

Chase County fans know the reference is to senior Bryson Fisher, who ran loose for 189 yards and one touchdown in Chase's 13-0 win last year.

Obviously, great defense played a major role and the Haymakers never really recovered during their tough 1-8 campaign.

Cozad has tough football tradition so another shutout would be impressive.

Bridgeport at Southern Valley

This could be one of the better air vs. ground collisions.

Bridgeport featured two 1,000-yard rushers last year and returns junior Jerrod Fedorchik, who tallied 15 touchdowns during the Bulldogs' 6-4 campaign.

Southern Valley leaders certainly see this opener as winnable, though, and have junior J.T. Grilli with his 22 yards-per-reception in 2015.

The Eagles are eager to improve on last year's 3-6 record.

Wallace at Medicine Valley

Explosive memories hover around this rematch when Medicine Valley scored 59 points while only possessing the pigskin for about 18 minutes.

Wallace actually ran 70 plays but never had an any other advantage beyond 7-5 through one quarter.

Hopes of delivering some payback will likely be following the visitors into Curtis Friday night.

Southwest at Sutherland

Beyond McCook, few teams return from a better season than the Southwest Roughriders who went 6-3 one year ago.

Dundy County-Stratton at Alma

Both teams qualified for playoffs last season, and this should be one of the better matchups in the area this week. The Tigers will look to linebacker Noah Kerchal and all-around athlete Phalen Sanford to make some noise Friday night.

Hayes Center (left) and Maywood were once football rivals, but now they've joined to become Wolves for a second consecutive year. They'll be one of the few area teams not kicking off their season until Sept. 2 at Heartland Lutheran.

All these games are set for Friday evening, although there are four-area teams who will not kick off until Sept. 2.

Both Decatur Community and Rawlins County start their seasons in Kansas next week.

Maywood-Hayes Center and Wauneta-Palisade open their seasons with their bye week. Next week, M-HC travels to Grand Island to take on Heartland Lutheran, while W-P head to the panhandle to battle Leyton.