Games under the Friday night lights are special, because there aren't a lot of them.
The regular season has only nine Fridays (and some Thursdays and Saturdays) where localscan grab their popcorn, sit in the stands and enjoy a little bit of what makes the fall great in Michigan — a traditional high school football game.
The perfect season is within reach — and not only for the teams hoping to go 9-0.
Fans can enjoy the perfect season by going to the single best game of each week, if they can pull themselves away from their alma mater.
As we start to take an early look at high school football, which will get rolling next week, these are the "Games of the Week"of the 2023 schedule.
Opening Night:Harper Creek at Lakeview
Get an early start to the season with this contest under the Thursday Night Lights, as Harper Creek vs. Lakeview is the place to be on opening night. The 2023 high school football campaign will start throughout the state on Thursday of the first week of the season and these two rivals will be center stage.
Two of the most vocal fan bases in the area, the crowd should be loud and large in this city rivalry contest that moves to Lakeview this year after two straight seasons at Harper Creek, following a change in 2022 when the Spartans' new field turf wasn't quite ready. For Lakeview, it will also be a first look at new head coach Brett Vernon.
Both teams are looking for bounce-back season after less-than-stellar 3-6 campaigns. But as they say in most rivalry games, you can throw out the records for this one. The long-running rivalry dates back more than four decades with Lakeview holding a slim 24-21 edge in the matchup.
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Week 2:Harper Creek at Battle Creek Central
This city rivalry doesn't have as long of a history as the one above, but it does get the fans of each school hyped up. When BCC and Harper Creek shared a conference, the two teams met from 2009-13. Overall, there have only been eight matchups, but the rivalry was rekindled last season with Week 2 opening up in each program's schedule.
BCC used last year's 34-0 win over Harper Creek to jumpstart its season as the Bearcats went on to win seven in a row. This Friday night before Labor Day contest is bound to keep local football fans in town before starting vacations for the holiday weekend.
Week 3: Parma Western at Pennfield
Week 3 will be the home debut of Pennfield's new field turf stadium and its new head coach. Both, the fresh field and first-year Panther leader Robbie Hatton has fans excited for the 2023 season following a discouraging 0-9 campaign a year ago. It almost doesn't matter who the opponent is as Pennfield will be hosting Parma Western - but the perennial playoff contender also brings something to this party.
Expect a big crowd as the community comes out to see a program that has a fresh coat of paint in more ways than one.
Week 4: Marshall at Harper Creek
Longtime fans of these programs can meet up in the 'BeaverDome' and talk about the days when this matchup was No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the state rankings with a huge standing room-only crowd as people ringed the field along the fence line. It still feels like that every year for the fans when these two teams meet. With the long shadows of former longtime head coaches Ed Greenman from Harper Creek and Rich Hulkow at Marshall always part of this contest, those legends created a rivalry that still runs hot today and will always bring about a classic game.
Week 5: Pennfield at Marshall
When Marshall faced Pennfield a year ago in Week 5, the Redhawks beat the Panthers and were off to a 4-1 start and thinking playoffs. However, Marshall would go on to lose its last four games and finish 4-5. Two programs that are hungry to turn things around after last year, this might just be a under-the-radar juicy contest to pay attention to in Week 5.
Week 6: St. Philip at Climax-Scotts
This is always one of the most anticipated regional rivalries in the area. Whenever these two teams meet in any sport, the dates on the proverbial calendar are circled. In some sports, due to a co-op agreement, these two schools share athletes, so there is a familiarity that exists. In football, that isn't the case, so the friendly attitude is shelved for a night.
These rivals will meet for the 24th time, with Climax-Scotts holding a small 13-10-1 edge. However, the Panthers have become a perennial power in the last decade-plus and C-S has won 10 of the last 11 meetings.
Week 7: BCC vs. Kalamazoo Central or Pennfield vs. Harper Creek
The standings might decide where you head to this week. Or, your taste in rivalries.
In Battle Creek Central vs. Kalamazoo Central, you have the longest running rivalry west of the Alleghenies. These two teams have been playing since before 1900 and the stories from local fans go back almost as far.
In Pennfield vs. Harper Creek, it is a city rivalry that didn't exist for several years. But as the two became area powers in the late 90s, it was rekindled to much fanfair. Now, the teams share a league and meet every season in all sports, and things almost always heat up when the contests roll around.
Whichever combination of teams are playing well by Week 7 will most likely give us the go-to contest on this Friday night.
Week 8: Lakeview at BCC
The oldest and most consistent rivalry between city schools is Battle Creek Central vs. Lakeview. And the two largest schools in town will get after it again in Week 8 at Spartan Memorial Field. From1963 to 1998 it was the final game of the regular season, one fan bases looked forward to all year, with bragging rights on the line no matter what the records were.
Lakeview has played no team more often than the Bearcats. And the only team BCC has played more than Lakeview, is Kalamazoo Central, which, as we said above, is one of the longest running rivalries in the country.
BCC owns a 33-27 advantage in the series, yet the Spartans have won three of the last four meetings and the two teams are a predictable 9-9 overall in the battle for bragging rightsin the past 18 contests.
Week 9: BCC at St. Joseph
Battle Creek Central owes St. Joseph a little something. The Bearcats came into Week 9 last year on a seven-game winning streak with thoughts of a league championship on their minds. BCC was tied with St. Joseph for first in the league and the final game of the regular season amounted to a defacto conference title game. However, St. Joseph held off BCC for a 47-29 win. The 7-2 regular season record for BCC was still the best the team had enjoyed since 2004, but the loss to St. Joseph left a bad taste in the mouths of the Bearcats.
Returning the favor, maybe with a league title on the line again between two of the teams predicted to be in the hunt this year, could be a great end to a 'perfect season' for fans of high school football.
Contact Bill Broderick at bbroderi@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on Twitter @billbroderick
This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Here are the top games of the 2023 high school football season
