WACO opens season on Thursday night

The 2016 football season is almost finally here, at least for one of Henry County?s teams.

WACO will begin their season, as well as their tenure as an eight-man football team on Thursday, Aug. 18, at 7 p.m.

The Warriors will play a non-district game at HLV in Victor in their first game since voting to go to eight-man during the offseason.

The game is to be played one week earlier than their original schedule because Cedar Valley Christian canceled their season, giving WACO one less district game. The Warriors will now have a bye on Friday, Oct. 7.

HLV went 9-2 last season, led by one of the better defenses in eight-man football. They gave up eight points or less in six of their nine wins.

As good eight-man teams do, HLV scored a ton of points in 2015, averaging 50.2 points per game and hitting a high of 87 in a road win over English Valleys.

WACO went 3-6 in their final season in Class A, averaging 28.4 points per game, but will look to put up some serious points in the open field this season.

Because of the schedule change, which was announced in the spring, the Warriors will have three non-district games before their first district battle at Wyoming Midland on Friday, Sept. 9.