It’s been more than eight months since Dec. 5, when American Heritage came into Joe Etheredge Stadium and eliminated Choctaw from the playoffs, bringing the curtain down on the 2025 area high school football season.

The offseason that followed was anything but quiet.

The biggest headline came out of Niceville, where Richard Morgan stunned the community with his resignation on March 24 after just one season. The Eagles turned to one of their own on April 10, naming Adron Robinson, an NHS alum and a pillar of the program, to lead the way forward.

At Rocky Bayou, KC Woods stepped down on Nov. 19, shortly after the 2025 season concluded, to focus on his role as assistant principal. Woods went 18-14 in three seasons and led the Knights to back-to-back state championships in 2024 and 2025, also overseeing the program’s transition from the FHSAA to the SSAA.

• The Knights brought in Mike Conway on March 27, a veteran coach with 25 years of experience coaching football and baseball at the college level.

At Freeport, Shaun Arntz stepped down in February after nine seasons as head football coach and athletic director, later taking the head coaching job at Destin Middle School. Bobby Johns was named his replacement on March 30, becoming the 14th head football coach in school history and only the third to hold the position in the past 25 years.

Add in transfer movements, spring practice, summer workouts and fall camp, and it all leads here, to the last big domino before Week 1: the kickoff classic.

Without further ado, here is the schedule for this week’s games. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. CT unless otherwise noted.

Thursday, Aug. 13

• Niceville at Fort Walton Beach
• Booker T. Washington at Crestview

Friday, Aug. 14

• Bay at Choctaw
• North Florida Christian at Destin (6 p.m. CT)
• Chiles at South Walton
• Baker at Chipley (6 p.m. CT)
• Freeport at Bozeman
• Walton at Gulf Breeze

Teams without a kickoff classic: Rocky Bayou (season opens Aug. 20 at Northview)