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Washington Evening Journal
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Tighten your chin straps
5 key matchups to watch in the 1st month of football season
The 2024 high school football season officially kicks off this Friday, as a select group of Week 0 games gives prep sports fans a taste of what is to come this fall.
The 2024 campaign has plenty of key football games in the coming weeks, including a few clashes between Union area teams. Here are five games to look forward to in 2024.
1. Mt. Pleasant at Fairfield (8/30)
Our first game on the list is just a few days away. For the fourth-straight year, Highway 34 rivals Mt. Pleasant and Fairfield will go at it in the first week of the regular season.
The Trojans are threatening to make it four-straight wins over the rival Panthers, who carried a four-game winning streak into the 2021 meeting before Fairfield pulled out a 27-18 win.
Since then, the Trojans have taken games 41-20 and 38-14 from Mt. Pleasant. The Trojans’ 24-point win last season came on the back of a 17-0 second-half run.
The Panthers will bring a huge chunk of the team back from last year, and the Trojans will have to replace their starting quarterback and revamp their receiving core, making it one of the most intriguing Week 1 matchups.
This battle will also mark the return of Fairfield head coach Matt Jones, who retakes the helm this season for the Trojans.
2. Sigourney-Keota at Mid-Prairie (9/13)
The Cobras and Goldan Hawks have played some absolute classics in the last five years. Sigourney-Keota comes into the contest having won three of the last four contests, including a wild 41-35 last season.
Three of the last four matchups between Sigourney-Keota and Mid-Prairie have been decided by six points or less. The Golden Hawks certainly have the edge in number of returners, but the Cobras will have a couple of weeks to get prepared for the big Week 3 showdown in Wellman.
3. Fairfield at Washington (9/13)
The Fairfield football team hadn’t beaten Washington in 11 years before a historic Highway 1 rivalry win over the Demons last season.
One year after the Demons stormed back from a 20-point deficit to shock the Trojans at Case Field, Fairfield finally flipped the script on Washington with a 23-20 win last season at home.
Many familiar faces will return from last year’s clash, including Demon quarterback Logan McDole, who went for 163 passing yards, 133 rushing yards and three scores for Washington in Fairfield last year, as well as Trojan running backs Cason Miller and Wyatt Johnson, who combined for 287 rushing yards and two scores.
4. Winfield-Mount Union at WACO (9/13)
The last three years have been historic for the athletic rivalry between Winfield-Mount Union and WACO.
The northern part of Henry County has seen unrivaled success in prep sports in recent years, and that’s certainly not limited to football.
Our third Sept. 13 showdown on the list will be a matchup between two teams that have played at the Dome in the last two years. WACO made the Class 8-Player championship in 2022, and Winfield-Mount Union went to the semifinals in 2024.
The Warriors have won four of the last six matchups between the neighbors, but the Wolves got the best of the Warriors, winning 34-8 in Winfield, a game that helped WMU snatch the district title from the defending champions.
This year it’s WACO that brings back the bulk of talent, including starting quarterback Clayton Miller and leading rusher Louden Huisenga. Winfield-Mount Union quarterback Jake Edwards will lead the way for the Wolves as they attempt to play Homecoming spoiler in Wayland.
5. Columbus at Pekin (9/20)
This matchup has been all Columbus since the two teams began playing again in 2021, but there’s reason to believe the 2024 edition of Wildcats vs. Panthers will be one of the most important games in the district.
Columbus has scored 151 points in the three meetings since 2021, and if the Wildcats want to keep it up, they’ll need a big game out of junior running back Riley Kaalberg, who burned the Panthers for 123 yards and three scores last season. Columbus also returns junior quarterback Trevor Phillips, who threw for two touchdowns in the last meeting.
On the other side is a Pekin team that won its last three regular season games last year to join Columbus in the Class A playoffs. Pekin will bring back a laundry load of talent, including senior quarterback Will Adam, who racked up 228 all purpose yards and two scores against Columbus last season.
