One of the more interesting things about the start of any new high school year is getting out and about to cover teams in all the sports. It's nothing to go from one sport to another to another in a span of days before things start settling in.

Early on in the season, most everyone is optimistic about the days ahead. Even if the teams recognize they are not all that talented, they still have hope that if everything goes well they can at least hit the break-even mark. Two or three weeks from now, that may not be the case, as anyone off to a slow start can get bogged down into the wrong frame of mind and have trouble recovering from it.

After finishing up the football preview special section and flushing out area previews in soccer and cross country, those respective seasons began. On Tuesday I was over in Coal City to watch Morris open the season with a 4-0 win. The Redkins looked very good in the opener and their conditioning is without a doubt what made the difference in the second half against the Coalers that day. Not that I'm saying the Coal City kids are not in shape or anything, but Morris was clearly the stronger team in the second half.