Southern Local senior running back Landen Heffner leads the Indians into Friday’s season opener at Toronto. (The Review/Ron Firth)

Football players always say, “One game at time.” But most never really mean it.

Yes, every game is important. It’s just some matter more than others for different reasons.

“Week one Western Reserve and week nine Garfield,” Crestview senior quarterback Jake Noling said. “It’s our get-back games. We need to get them back.”

Those were the only two losses for the Rebels in their last 15 regular-season games.

“Garfield was for our league championship last year, they beat us by one,” Noling said. “Week one, Western Reserve. We need to get them back, too.”

Others will be aiming for the Rebels.

“I’m excited for week three against Crestview,” United senior wide receiver Quentin Taylor said. “It’s going to be a fun game — great competition and smash-mouth football.”

The Golden Eagles have won or shared four of the last five Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference titles.

“United, I’m looking forward to that game,” Southern senior running back Landen Heffner said. “It’s our last game of the season. I’m glad it’s the last game so we’ll have nine weeks to prepare for it.”

The two teams have won or shared six of the last seven EOAC championships.

“Southern, week 10, is going to be a fun game, too,” Taylor said. “Hopefully we’ll be ready for them.”

The league rivalries don’t stop there because those games seem to mean more.

“Playing Columbiana,” Lisbon senior running back Ashton Hinchliffe said. “Because they beat us the past three years.”

In fact, Columbiana has beaten Lisbon eight years in a row.

“We’ve had a long rivalry,” Columbiana senior lineman Brayden Clancy said. “My brother graduated a couple of years ago. I know they had a lot of strong feelings toward each other. I’m excited to play them, too.”

The Spaghetti Bowl features one of the area’s longest continuous rivalries between Lisbon and Leetonia. The teams have played every year since 1940.

“I’m looking forward to turning around our losing streak and finally getting the Spaghetti Bowl back,” Leetonia senior Jaden Rivers said.

Leetonia last won in 2020 when the Bears captured a share of the EOAC title.

“I’m looking forward to getting that traveling trophy back from Columbiana and getting to a playoff game,” East Palestine senior running back Zach Schnelle said. “It’s the seniors last year. I think we can do it.”

United parking

United’s new $50 million K-12 school complex is completed and ready for the first day of school on Sept. 2.

The old school has been torn down, but the rubble needs to be hauled away before being paved over for a parking lot. So this is the third football season fans will deal with parking issues due to the project.

“Parking is going to be tight,” United athletic director D.J. Ogilvie said. “Overall probably about the same number (of spaces), it’s just for football people it’s going to be a longer walk.”

He said the practice football field adjacent to the stadium will be open for parking this football season. There is parking around the new school, by the softball field, the student lot on the south side and across Route 9 where the buses park for games.

Ogilvie said volleyball fans will enter through the north side of the new school by the large glass panels, which is the cafeteria.

“For soccer games, we ask people to park by the BC (Brautigam Center) and walk down,” he said.

The steps down to the soccer stands are open this year, making it easier for some to reach their seats.

Game notes

• Southern has a new coach, but the Indians expect to continue the same run-heavy offense.

“We’ve been conditioning a lot, so we’ll lean on that, being the most conditioned team,” Heffner said.

• Heffner said expectations remain the same at Southern.

“Always the league championship, but I’ll be happy to get seven or eight wins on the board,” he said. “The league championship is my goal 100 percent. We have a really young team.”

• Crestview has 23 returning lettermen, including seven starters on offense and nine starters on defense.

“We’re excited with the veteran team we have,” Noling said. “A lot of us seniors have been playing together for a while. So we’re excited. It should be a good year.”

• Clancy is one of only three seniors on the Columbiana squad.

“I’m looking forward to coming together and showing everybody even though we lost a bunch of seniors (12) last year, we’re still viable,” Clancy said.