Area high school football fans don’t have to wait until the start of league play to witness some of the best matchups of the season.

A full slate of intriguing games and a slew of rivalries, usually reserved for the mid to late portion of the schedule, take center stage in the opening week of the 2021 high school football season.

Perhaps the brightest spotlight will shine down on Dave Pavlansky Field tonight when Canfield and Poland renew their rivalry following a two-year hiatus.

The return of “The Battle of 224” will also usher in the Tom Pavlansky coaching era at Poland, who takes over the Bulldogs program after guiding Lakeview for the past 22 years.

Ironically, Tom’s first game will be against his brother Mike, who is entering his 21st season at the helm in Canfield. It will mark the first-ever meeting between the two brothers.

Dave Pavlansky Field is named for Tom and Mike’s dad, a former Poland coach.

The Cardinals and Bulldogs first played in 1921 and the two teams met continuously from 1944 until 2018. During that span, Poland had an edge in the series, 40-32-3.

Tonight in Trumbull County, Howland and Niles will square off at Bo Rein Stadium in what will be the 47th consecutive meeting between the backyard rivals. Tonight marks just the second time in the series that the two teams will meet to open the season.

A year ago, Howland and Niles had their season-opener erased because of a COVID-shortened regular season. The two teams instead met in a regular-season finale after both were eliminated from the playoffs. Howland prevailed 42-36.

Niles leads the series 25-21.

Friday’s full slate of games also features the 50th meeting between South Range and Springfield. South Range leads the series 28-19-2.

The Tigers and Raiders first met in 1970. Last year’s scheduled meeting fell victim to the shortened regular season. Both teams finished the regular season with 6-0 records.

South Range enters the game with a 10-game regular season winning streak, second-best in the area. Springfield owns the area’s longest current regular season winning streak at 21 games. The Tigers last lost a regular season game on Sept. 21, 2018, a 20-17 setback to McDonald.

Mineral Ridge plays host to Pymatuning Valley. The game was originally scheduled to be played at Pymatuning Valley, but officials of the two schools worked out a deal which allowed Mineral Ridge to open the season on its newly-installed turf.

McDonald was expected to be playing Friday on turf at the newly-constructed McDonald Sports Complex located just off Second Street. However a delay in construction has pushed back its opening to at least Sept. 17. As a result, the Blue Devils will host Brookfield at A.A. Burkey Stadium.

The Battle of the Westside resumes tonight when Youngstown Chaney visits Austintown Fitch. It marks the first time since 2010 that the Cowboys and Falcons will meet in the season opener. Longtime rivals Youngstown Cardinal Mooney and Boardman will square off at Spartan Stadium.

Warren G. Harding plays host to Medina. The Bees went 3-3 in the regular season last year, then caught fire in the playoffs. They defeated Strongsville, Lakewood St. Edward and Cleveland St. Ignatius before falling to Mentor. Medina is led by senior quarterback Drew Allar, a Penn State commit who also had offers from Michigan, Notre Dame and a host of other prominent Division I schools.

Fresh off of its Division VII state final appearance, Warren John F. Kennedy visits Champion. The Eagles have won three straight over the Golden Flashes since 2017 when the two teams began playing in week one. However the last two victories were by a combined four points.