By Jon Sicotte
Posted August 8, 2008

Hello, hello...yes, I know a long time inbetween. I'm actually on vacation this week, but a call from Rick Glaza (play-by-play for WLEW) got me to think: "I better get something up as well on my blog."

The 2008 football season, along with the rest of the fall sports, is almost upon us.

Here is the Mix 92-1 tentative football schedule for this season.

Wk 1: Caro at Vassar
Wk 2: Laker at Vassar
Wk 3: Marlette at Reese
Wk 4: Cass City at USA
Wk 5: Reese at Cass City
Wk 6: Birch Run at Millington
Wk 7: Reese at USA
Wk 8: North Branch at Millington
Wk 9: Kingston at Mayville

Don't forget you can catch all the pre-game action also on Mix 92-1 with the whole crew of Pigskin Prophets as well.

There are a few new faces to the football landscape when it comes to coaches.

Dave Bitzer is the new coach of USA after being an assistant there for many years, taking over for Gary VanSumeren.

And Vassar is now a part of the Greater Thumb West. Coach Jason Kiss will start their first title quest in the GTW with a game in week 2, home against Laker and we will be there for all the action on the air and in Saturday's paper.

I am just starting to get to work on the season previews. Training camp starts Monday and I will make the first stop to Akron-Fairgrove to see how the kids are getting ready after turning down an invite from Owen-Gage and Caseville to create a whole new team as a co-op. It will be a trying year for the Vikes if they don't come out with a good group of numbers for the varsity.

Millington will look to replace their quarterback (TCA and TSA Player of the Year) Dustin Griesing as they battle for the TVE title with Frankenmuth.

Caro will get a chance to show they aren't a knockover as they travel to Vassar in Week 1. It's now a non-confrence game. Can the TVE show the newbie in the GTW who has the best conference in the Thumb?

Cass City will look to their very talented senior class to make a move to the GTW title while Reese, who rarely loses a conference battle will look to continue that trend.

Kingston finished strong with running back Raydar Williams. They will have a new QB under center, should that change the hopes of contending for the NCTL title again?

Mayville will have a tough road to go, just because of the toughness of the GTE schedule. Nate Richardson will lead the team at QB while they should have a strong running game under coach Mike Campbell.

I do think USA will struggle this season. They have some talented players, but can also be one injury away from really shortchanging the whole season due to numbers on the varsity.