If you can't feel the anticipation for high school football building today, then get ready for it full force Friday.

It's the opening week of the season and we're ready for it here at the Wisconsin State Journal.

And it's only fitting that Madison Edgewood gets things started tonight at Middleton where the Crusaders host Sauk Prairie in a 7 p.m. non-conference game.

Edgewood, exempt from the state's Sept. 1 mandatory starting date for public schools, has been in school for more than a week so it kind of makes sense that the Crusaders would get a jump on everybody on the football field, too. Our Bill Cooney will be at Otto Breitenbach Stadium to cover the game so look for his story online tonight and in Friday's Wisconsin State Journal with photos from freelance ace Andy Manis.

Also tonight, Kevin Morales from our sister paper in Portage will be at Stockbridge to watch Rio from the Small Trailways Conference open its season. The Vikings have a new coach in Dan Strause.

We'll be all over the place Friday for the first full (day and) night of high school football.

I'll be in Darlington to provide radio color commentary alongside Scott Thompson on WEKZ Radio in Monroe (93.7 FM) for the Redbirds' season-opener against Platteville. You can listen to the game on the radio or on the Internet at www.bigradio.fm.  

Then I'm back to the office to direct traffic for our evening coverage from around the region.

Nick Zizzo will make the short walk from his home to Lussier Stadium to watch Verona make its Big Eight Conference debut against host Madison La Follette. Staff photographer Craig Schreiner will also be on hand to capture the much-anticipated opener through his lens.

Bryan Watson will head to Monterey Stadium in Janesville to watch Sun Prairie -- last year's Big Eight co-champion with La Follette -- open with Janesville Craig.

Mike Kaebisch will hit the road for Milton where the Red Hawks -- newcomers to the Badger Conference -- will play DeForest, which returns a veteran team with the experience of last year's WIAA Division 2 state runner-up finish.

We'll also be usuing the stats-taking program we used for basketball, baseball and softball last season for football. So you'll be able to find out the final scores from all of the area high school football openers as they are reported to us here at the State Journal.

And, if that's not enough, we'll have Cassie Paulsen at the Middleton-Cross Plains pool for the Big Eight Conference girls swimming opener beteween defending WIAA Division 1 state champion Madison East and Middleton, which was third at state. It was a tough call for which Big Eight opener to cover as 2007 state runner-up Madison Memorial opens with its biggest rival, Madison West, in the Spartans' pool.

We'll need a long weekend to recover from the frenzy of the first Friday night of prep football. But on Saturday, I'll be off to UW-Platteville to provide color commentary with Scott Thompson on WEKZ and www.bigradio.fm from the game between Pecatonica-Argyle and Shullsburg -- the last of five games over two days at Pioneer Stadium as part of the Six Rivers Classic.