Andy's Take: The preseason matters more than you think

High school football’s talking season may be over, but excuse season is getting warmed up. You may have already read plenty of them on social media, and one I frequently run into is, ‘It just the preseason. It doesn’t matter.’

The season is still rolling out across the country. Alaska, Georgia, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah and Georgia were in action last week. More than a dozen others will start this week. Not every team has had a chance yet to step into exhibition action, but humor me here as we examine football games that apparently don’t matter.

High school football exhibitions are not like the National Football League’s preseason where starters get maybe a handful of snaps in the preseason and are then rested in preparation for Week 1. No, the prep ranks largely treat these August preseason games with the same intensity as they would a game in October. The only difference is that one counts in the standings and the other doesn’t.

It seems disingenuous to suggest that high school preseason games don’t matter when the energy on the field tells us otherwise. You don’t have to take my word for it, either. The on-field action tells the story.

I’ve watched preseason film and clips all this week and saw starters playing deep into the second half of these games. That doesn’t scream doesn’t matter energy.

Fan bases already jumping to conclusions that their team may not be that good this season after a poor preseason showing doesn’t scream of doesn’t matter energy.

More and more, these preseason games are being scheduled to challenge programs ahead of their first official game of the season. Ultimately, that means something to someone. Is it the head coach? His assistants? Players wanting tougher preseason opponents?

Take for instance Miami Northwestern‘s 40-3 preseason classic victory over Lakeland last weekend. It was a dominant performance by the Bulls over the Dreadnaughts. Did that give Northwestern a ton of confidence heading into this week’s showdown with Orange Lutheran? You better believe it.

Lakeland will have a chance to prove last week was an aberration Auburndale on Thursday but, make no mistake about it, that preseason game meant something. The Dreadnaughts may be a nine-time state championship but they laid an egg against the Bulls and that isn’t going to just go away because the game doesn’t count toward their official record.

Gaffney edged out South Carolina state power Dutch Fork in a 21-14 scrimmage that was called late in the fourth quarter last week. Murmurs of where that puts both programs in the minds of the public can be found if you do enough internet sleuthing.

Basha and Liberty, two of Arizona’s top programs, clashed in a preseason game last night. It was a rematch of last season’s state final. If the preseason didn’t matter, why are these two powers meeting up in mid-August?

The preseason has brought out a different energy altogether now in high school football. What coaches are actually going out there in the preseason, resting their starters and playing their backups and junior varsity players? I can honestly say almost no team the Southeast did that, and that’s why these games mattered. Coaches didn’t know exactly what they had until they got to see it all out on the field.

There’s no more saying it doesn’t matter.

Everything matters from here on out.

Let the games begin.