A cool breeze late Saturday night made it feel like late September outside. It was a few hours after all of the county’s community day scrimmages were complete, but the cool air still symbolized the sport this state loves so much.

One of the hardest four months for me seemed to be my first semester at the University of Montevallo. Yes, Montevallo High School was there and Calera and Shelby Academy were not far away, but the feeling wasn’t the same. There was no longer a football game to go to on Friday night.

While I settled into a Saturday and Sunday tracking of the game over the past few years, last fall has me geared up and ready to go for a second season of football in Shelby County.

As I’ve said many times before, Shelby County is a hotbed for athletic success, which is one of the main reasons I left Titans country in Tennessee to return here nearly 20 months ago as sports editor.

This football season we will do our best to provide coverage to our county’s 16 teams, beginning with our fifth-annual Shelby County Football Magazine, which will appear in next week’s issue of the paper.

We’ll keep your teams covered by updating game stories the night of the game on www.shelbycountyreporter.com and www.alabasterreporter.com.

Fans in Alabaster can grab their team’s news the morning after the game from the red newspaper racks around town.

Part of our focus this fall will also be to provide you with weekly video highlights of our Game of the Week and possibly more than that each week. Also, the fans’ favorite, Pigskin Picks, will begin next week.

But in addition to giving you the important game recap, we want to tell your team’s story. Here is where we need your help.

If a player, coach, fan or team has an interesting and unique story, share it with us. With 16 teams in the county, sometimes the best off-the-field story can fly past us in the height of football season if someone doesn’t point it out.

Also, while these pages will focus a good bit on varsity football over the next three months, feel free to submit your community news. We’d love to see it.

Call or e-mail us with your ideas.