Counting down to prep football: One final thought on the thrill of opening night

And just like that, our countdown to prep football is at an end.

All summer, week after week, we’ve provided insight related to the 2025 season for teams, players and coaches throughout our coverage area.

We opened with 10 top senior recruits and continued with nine quarterbacks and eight non-quarterbacks to watch, seven new coaches on the sideline, six awesome season-openers, five of the toughest schedules, four Saturday games to see, three bold predictions for the season and two opposing viewpoints on the debate between private and public schools.

After starting the countdown in June, we’re now down to one final thought.

It’s not earth-shattering, but I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the first time I covered high school football.

Way back in 1991. Just three months after graduating from the University of Missouri.

I’d been working part-time for the Daily Herald for two summers, mainly filing short stories on adult baseball and softball. Nothing Pulitzer-worthy, but it was enough to get my foot in the door when former prep sports editor Mike Bambach handed out assignments for the biggest night on the calendar.

Opening night for prep football.

I lived in Villa Park at the time, but the assignment had me driving 40 miles to Gurnee to watch Fenton play Warren. Despite the hike, I was thrilled to be among the team of writers spread throughout the suburbs blanketing the area with coverage.

For us, to this day, every Friday night in the fall feels like the Super Bowl.

I don’t remember much about that first game, other than a blur of excitement, packed bleachers and loud fans. I didn’t expect that kind of energy.

Warren won by a lot. Minutes after the game ended, I was expected to call in my story to an editor … assuming I could find a pay phone, which wasn’t easy.

I rambled a story off the top of my head, trying to sound somewhat coherent to earn another shot the next week. Better times would follow.

My biggest memories involve the night before. I couldn’t sleep. I was too wound up wondering how the game might play out, and wondering if I was up to the challenge of covering prep football.

Ever since that first opening night, though, I’ve thought more about the players.

Through the years I’ve talked to dozens of players about what it’s like leading up to the season opener. How tough it is to sleep the night before. The difficulty concentrating at school on game day.

And then the dead hours between the end of school and the opening kick. You can try filling it with a team meal, taping up, getting warmed up and stretching, but players have told me the anxiousness is almost overwhelming.

For all the team camps, college camps, 7-on-7s and everything else occupying the summer, nothing prepares a player for the butterflies on opening night. It may affect different players in different ways, but everyone’s got them fluttering.

I’ve never put on a football uniform, but I still try to relate.

In 30 years of covering the opening night of the football season, I’ve always felt the nerves. But, like the players, they somehow dissipate — just enough — with that opening kickoff.

All the hype builds to that one moment where everyone can finally exhale and just play the game. The muscle memory kicks in and you do your job to the best of your ability.

Opening night is never normal, but that’s partly why it’s so awesome.