The second weekend of the high school football season coincides with the first legal competition date in girls volleyball, boys and girls soccer, field hockey and boys and girls cross country.
With golf matches also scheduled it all adds up to make Friday the busiest day of competition to date in this school year.
Girls volleyball moves immediately into league play with matches in both the Wyoming Valley Conference and Lackawanna League.
Boys soccer has a busy slate of non-league games. There are lighter schedules of non-league play in girls soccer and field hockey. Boys and girls cross country includes some limited invitational activity.
At 7 p.m., football will take center stage, highlighted by the second-ranked Delaware Valley at third-ranked Valley View in a meeting between two of the top three Big School teams in the Gaughan Auto Store Super Six Power Rankings on NEPAFootball.com.
Of the 23 opponents Valley View has faced at least 5 times, Delaware Valley is the only one to manage a winning record against the Cougars, going 11-6.
No. 5 Lakeland is at No. 6 Lackawanna Trail in a meeting between ranked Small Schools. That game is one of just two on the schedule, along with North Pocono at Western Wayne, between teams that won their openers.
Among the other high-profile games are Dunmore at Old Forge and Dallas at Wyoming Valley West.
In girls volleyball, Dunmore is at Western Wayne in a meeting between two of the Lackawanna’s top three teams from a year ago. Dunmore, the 2020 runner-up and this season’s favorite, is ranked fifth in the Electric City Volleyball Elite Eight Power Rankings of District 2 teams. Western Wayne opens the season ranked seventh.
The only WVC opener between teams that had winning records a year ago is Pittston Area at Lake-Lehman.
In boys soccer, action starts early with the Lakeside Classic at Wallenpaupack, which hosts Western Wayne at 10 a.m. Honesdale and Hamburg play at 11:30, followed by consolation and championship games.
The non-league schedule includes rivals meeting with Pittston Area playing at Wyoming Area and the return to action of the Abington Heights team that sat out last season. The Comets host Pocono Mountain East.
In girls soccer, the only game of five openers that pits two winning teams from 2020 against each other is Lake-Lehman at Wilkes-Barre Area.
In field hockey, Wyoming Valley West is at Lower Dauphin in a meeting of two of the state’s top 10 teams, regardless of classification, according to maxfieldhockey.com.
Wyoming Valley West is ranked ninth and Lower Dauphin is sixth.
In cross country, Abington Heights and Delaware Valley are among the teams entered in the Lion Invitational at Moravian Academy in Bethlehem. The girls are scheduled for 3:20 p.m. and the boys for 3:45.
In golf, the 13-match schedule includes Pittston Area (3-1) at Crestwood (3-0) in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1-2 crossover.
