It’s finally here.
After a long, hot summer of practices, camps, workouts and scrimmages, the 2019 high school football season is upon us.
What makes it even better for Jackson County football fans is both Seymour and Brownstown Central are at home to open their campaigns. The Owls play host to South Dearborn while the Braves welcome Corydon Central.
Both Seymour and Brownstown Central won in a shutout last season. The Owls, 7-0, over the Knights, and the Braves, 49-0, over the Panthers.
Seymour coach Mike Kelly says the Knights do a lot of things well and points to their big offensive line as possible headache makers for the Owl defense.
“I think, more than anything, their size and their physicality stick out most to me,” Kelly said. “They have the ability to go from a very tight formation to a very wide formation and so they can do a lot of different things offensively.
“That just makes more you have to prepare for defensively.”
Defensively, Kelly notes a few South Dearborn returners that made life tough last season. The Knights’ starting middle linebacker and safety are both very agile and powerful at the point of attack says Kelly. Both will be big worry spots for the Owl offense.
Kelly believes the progress he’s seen, especially over the past two weeks, will come to a head tonight. He expects the maturity of quarterback Brendan Smith, as well as the speed the Owls have at running back and wide receiver to give them the edge.
In the all-time series history, Seymour has never lost to South Dearborn. They are a perfect 13-0 dating back to September of 1983.
Over at Brownstown Central, coach Reed May doesn’t expect the offense he saw Corydon Central run last Friday against Providence to be the same thing his defense will deal with tonight.
After all, it’s what happened last year.
May says the Panthers ran mostly a single-back offense with a lot of zone reads against the Pioneers. It could be totally different by the time they take the field this evening. However, May doesn’t seem to be too concerned with it. Especially with all of the different schemes his defense has practiced against this summer.
"We’re prepared for a lot of different things," May said. "But we’re really not sure what they’re going to run against us [tonight]."
This tilt has been pretty one-sided over the last several years with the Braves winning by at least two touchdowns since 2012. They’ve scored at least 31 points against the Panthers since 2014.
May explained he’ll be putting a lot of new players into varsity roles. When asked what he’ll tell those players before they take the field for the first time under the Friday night lights, May responded that he expects some nervousness, but joked he makes practices pretty intense so the games feel much easier in comparison.
The Braves lead the all-time series, 43-12-1, over Corydon Central. The lone tie came in the series’ first game in 1965, 7-7.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Catch the Owls” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
What: South Dearborn at Seymour
When: Friday, 7 p.m.
Radio: 92.7 Nash Icon
Where: Bulleit Stadium
Last meeting: Seymour, 7-0, Aug. 17, 2018
Series past 30 years: Seymour 9-0.
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Catch the Braves” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
What: Corydon Central at Brownstown Central
When: Friday, 7 p.m.
Radio: 96.3-WJAA
Where: Blevins Stadium
Last meeting: Brownstown, 55-13, Oct. 19, 2017, sectional
Series past 30 years: Brownstown 29-5.
[sc:pullout-text-end]