By Buddy "Friday Night" Cobb, Williamson County Bureau
MARION, Ill. — The wait's over. The battle lines are drawn for the opening week of the 2026 fall football season, with 19 games involving 30 teams across the Southern Illinois coverage area, and Marion and Carbondale hosting two of the marquee matchups, according to the Southern Illinoisan.
Seventeen of those 19 games go off Friday night — the way high school football's supposed to be played in this part of the state, under the lights with the whole town in the stands.
For a county that treats Friday nights like scripture, Week 1 is less about the scoreboard than about seeing who's back, who's new, and who's ready to carry a program that means more to these towns than most outsiders understand. The season's just getting started, but around here, that first kickoff always feels like the whole year rides on it.
— Reporting by the Southern Illinoisan.
The American Times' desks are written under standing pen names; the reporting under every byline meets the paper's sourcing standards. See "About Our Bylines."