COMMENTARY – It’s Friday. It’s mid-August. It’s time for football.

For whatever reason, the UHSAA pushed back the starting date for football season to Aug. 23, the latest starting date since 2002. So summer felt a little longer this year than in years past. But next week we finally get to pull the curtain on the 2013 season.

I, for one, can’t wait.

This year will be better than ever here at STGNews.com, with more coverage (including video) and a new partnership with ESPN SportsRadio 106.1 FM. Next week we will be unveiling a new VideoCast show, plus I will be back on the air doing ballgames every Friday. Life is good.

The storylines are incredibly compelling this season. Can Dixie replace MVP Blake Barney? Will Desert Hills finally take that next step and become state champions? Will Pine View return to its former glory with a blue chip quarterback and a crew of veteran receivers? Is Hurricane’s run of five straight region championships (or co-championships) finally going to end? How will new coach Marcus Matua do as leader of the Snow Canyon Warriors? Can the Riverboat Gambler Todd Peacock bounce back after Cedar went 1-8 last year? How will Payson fit into the new region?

See what I mean. This year holds a ton of intrigue for football fans.

Beginning next week, we will be bringing readers in-depth previews of each team. The schedule is: Monday – Cedar and Payson; Tuesday – Snow Canyon and Pine View; Wednesday – Hurricane and Dixie; Thursday – Desert Hills. On Fridays we will have our usual Game Capsules, featuring everything you need to know about that days games.

Also, listen as Devin Dixon and I break down the match-ups Friday afternoons at 4 p.m. on 106.1 FM.

In addition, we will be stepping up our coverage of Dixie State University athletics. Darren Cole, after a brief hiatus from sports writing (20 years), has joined our staff and will be covering the Red Storm as well as weekly prep games.

Also, early next week we will have season previews for girls soccer, boys golf, girls tennis, cross country and volleyball. We will also have the popular weekly feature column, Monday Rundown, to recap the goings-on in all these sports.

We once again will have entertaining columnists Scott Young (BYU football) and Dwayne Vance (Utah football) back with their takes on the Cougars and Utes.

School is in, the teams are set and the fall sports season is underway. Read about it here at www.stgeorgeutah.com.

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Andy Griffin is a sports commentator. The opinions stated in this article are his and not representative of St. George News.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

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