Football season is here; time to root for your school

Football is a big deal in Southeast Missouri.

Towns have a way of rallying behind their hometown teams. Fans attend the games on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons, and there's plenty of "water cooler" talk about who the stand-out players are and whether a new coach can live up to the hype.

Several area high schools will participate in pre-season contests tonight, and the season officially gets going with regular season play on Aug. 30.

Southeast Missouri State University will open its season at home Thursday night against SIU. The Redhawks are coming off a stand-out 2018 season, and there's a lot of excitement with this year's squad.

The Southeast Missourian published its first-ever Gridiron magazine on Thursday. Subscribers received a magazine with their newspaper, and copies can be purchased at your local Rhodes 101 Stops. Subscribers also receive exclusive access to the online content, which can be found at semoball.com/gridiron.

We're looking forward to the season ahead. Here's wishing all our local teams the best in their 2019 campaigns.