Let the games begin!!

After spending the summer beating the hype drum for the fall season, I could not be happier that the time for questions is over, and the time for answers starting to pile up is finally here.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not the guy who sits around and complains about the hype. I am a fight fan, and the promotional machine is an enormous part of any prizefight, from the monkey bars to Caesar’s Palace.

The hype lathers us up to the point where we can’t stand it. And if you think reading our previews through the month of August got you fired up for football season, try writing them.

In many ways, the fall season is like Christmas. Starting around Thanksgiving (who am I kidding, Christmas hype starts closer to Halloween these days), the anticipation builds. As the day draws near, presents start to show up under the tree.

What could those boxes possibly contain? Will this be the year I get the ultimate present? Or will this year bring me a huge container stuffed with newspaper that covers up a lousy pack of undies?

First, you eye the box from the outside, sizing it up just by how it looks. You pick it up and feel the weight. Next, you give it the shake. But you do it gently at first. There could be something fragile in there.

As you shake the box, you get a better feel for the weight but also get a sense for the sound it makes.

After setting the box down, having exhausted every tool at your disposal to solve the mystery, you close your eyes and try to imagine what’s in there, only to realize you still have no idea - and won’t until the time comes to open it.

And it drives you crazy.

Well … the time for speculation has come and gone. The bell has rung, and it’s time to come out fighting.

Hutchinson started the year with questions about whether the Salthawks could win an unprecedented sixth-straight state championship. But before Hutch could think about Kansas competition, it had to worry about Missouri powerhouse Rockhurst.

The game was dead even for most of the first quarter before the Salthawks’ defense slammed the door on Rockhurst and Hutch coasted to a 55-27 win.

When you combine the defense with a Hutch offense that didn’t throw a single pass, had 361 yards rushing in the first half alone and didn’t bring the punt team on for the entire game, you have one of the best teams in the region nationally, let alone in the state of Kansas.

Smith Center, also a team looking for an absurd sixth championship in a row, extended the nation’s longest current winning streak to 68 games after another ho-hum 59-0 season opener against Plainville.

When it comes to the top three teams in the GWAL - Bishop Carroll, Wichita Heights and Wichita Northwest - perhaps Carroll had the most questions coming into the year. The Golden Eagles have future University of Oklahoma quarterback Blake Bell (I’ll bet the Sooners wish he were on the team at this point early in their season), but only two other returning starters join Bell in the offense.

In a tough Week 1 draw, Carroll had to welcome Heights in a game that could very well be for all the marbles. Seven of the last nine GWAL championships have been won by Carroll or Heights.

But even without a ton of experience, Carroll was not a gracious host to the Falcons and looks like the team to beat in the City League after a 28-0 shutout of Heights.

Northwest squeaked out a win over Kapaun Mt. Carmel on Thursday with a come-from-behind, 16-13 win to put itself in a four-way tie for first with Carroll, Wichita East and … Wichita West?

After winning just one game last year, West won its opener against Wichita South in dominating style, 34-7, to start the year undefeated and grab a share of first place.

Central Plains League locomotives Conway Springs and Garden Plain both picked up steam as they head toward each other down opposite ends of the same track.

Last year’s 3A champion, Conway Springs, showed that things will go on as usual without Jaydan Bird, now a freshman linebacker at OU, and that new coach Matt Biehler will fit in perfectly as the Cardinals smashed Cheney 35-7. Garden Plain steamrolled Wichita Independent in a 72-0 blowout.

These are just a small sample of the Week 1 storylines.

What questions did your school begin to answer?