I'll admit it, I'm a football junkie.

I love high school football on Friday night, college football on Saturday and pro football on Sunday and Monday.

Yes, a big part of my job is covering high school football. I don't think I could stay away from high school stadiums on Friday nights in the fall even if I wasn't required to cover games.

There is something magical about the high school game that takes me back to a simpler time. Back when communities flocked to local stadiums to support their team, and kids wanted to attend Home Town High School even when the going was rough and Rival High was on top.

If you lived in a small town, or even a big city, and the stadium was close enough to your home, it wasn't uncommon to walk to the game.

At times, I can close my eyes and drift back to my high school days at old Mercer Smith Stadium in Gulf Breeze. The memories of those days still spark a heightened awareness of all my five senses.

I can see my Dolphin team take the field amid strains of the school fight song. I can feel a rush of the cool breeze blowing off Santa Rosa Sound, just a few hundred yards away. And the scent in the air of burgers and hotdogs on the grill cooking behind the concession stand is so enticing I can almost taste them as I stand on the sidelines with my teammates. 

It has been 38 years since I last played the game, but the images of teammates and coaches are as fresh today as they were when those games were played.

I can see my defensive line coach, Mike "Wild Man" Walker bouncing up and down the sidelines as he shouts words of encouragement to Dolphin players on both sides of the ball. And head coach, Jim Smith, is quickly calling plays, using an offensive lineman to relay the message in the huddle.

In my mind, quarterback Ronnie Busbee is throwing another long pass to Mort Deer. Ken Hardy is punishing tacklers as he carries the football from his tailback position and coming up with big hits on ball carriers from his spot at linebacker on defense.

Most sports writers I know prefer watching a game from the press box, but I want to be close to the action on the sidelines. I want to hear the plays that a coach calls; to see the raw emotion on players’ faces.

I love hearing Matt Brunson coach up the Baker Gators. And, from what I've seen, it will be equally enjoyable watching Crestview coach Tim Hatten motivate the Bulldogs.

Yes, I am a football junkie — a high school football junkie, who was first hooked on the game so long ago.

Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: I'm a football junkie

When I woke up Monday morning and went outside to let my dog out, I felt a welcome touch of fall in the air.

The calendar says we still have another four weeks of summer, as fall doesn't officially arrive until Sept. 22, but at least Monday was a reminder of cooler, milder days and nights to come.

Many of us associate the start of the football season with the beginning of the fall season, and for many years that was the case.

As late as the 1970s, most high school and college football teams didn't start their seasons until mid-September.

College football's expanding season was brought on in part by cable TV and the need to fill air time in the first few weeks of September.

High school season inched earlier in the year, as more schools started playing the game and the playoffs expanded from three to five games in the larger classifications. With the way things are set up now, the state championship games in Florida's four largest classifications won't be played until Dec. 13 and 14.

Florida high school football teams play their first official games of the season this week, but the season started last week in other states.

I'm sorry, but I just can't wrap my brain cells around playing a regular-season game earlier than Labor Day weekend.

I miss the days when, even in Florida, the first cool breezes of autumn marked the start of the football season. There was something wonderfully innocent about those days; then again, I was young and the world seemed to be a kinder, friendlier place — unless you were playing an archrival on their home field.

Of course, there can be no turning back the clocks to yesterday or yesteryears of long ago.

Football falls now start in the summer, and life moves at a quicker pace.

I'll be in Baker on Friday to watch the Gators host Graceville. A week from Friday, I'll be at Jack Foster Stadium as Crestview High welcomes the Choctawhatchee Indians to town.

My dance card for the next 11 Fridays is full with high school football games. And, if I'm luckY and Baker and Crestview have successful seasons and make the playoffs, I can fill a few more Friday nights in November and beyond.

By the time football season ends, I'm hoping there will be a chill in the air and frost on my breath on Friday nights.

Football season is here and the seasons are changing, but Friday nights in high school stadiums across the state seem to forever remain the same.

Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: Feeling of fall and football in the air

The high school football season unofficially arrives Friday with the Kickoff Classics. Baker travels to Jay for the Preseason War of Highway 4; Crestview will be at Pace to face the Patriots.

This will be my 13th consecutive season covering Northwest Florida high school football. I also spent a year covering it as a freelancer in the fall of 1985. Escambia High School had a good junior running back on that team some local athletes can brag about playing.

Everyone who follows football knows about Emmitt Smith, the all-time rushing leader in National Football League history.

After that 1985 season it was another 16 years before I covered a high school football game in Northwest Florida. By that time, I was in the business full time working for the Northwest Florida Daily News.

I covered Jeff Webb's last season coaching the Baker Gators and Matt Brunson's first year coaching the Crestview Bulldogs.

Jacob Cosson was the Crestview quarterback and Vernon Jones was the do-it-all star under center for the Gators. Jones might just be the best all-around athlete I've seen in my 12 seasons in Okaloosa County.

As good as Jones was in each sport, the toughest player I've seen is former Bulldog running back Adam Phillips.

The best way to describe Phillips is old school. Phillips, who also played safety on defense, sported a scar across the bridge of his nose from where his helmet constantly came down when he made a tackle or took on a tackler.

Coaches often talk about players with the will to win, those who can carry a team; Phillips was — when he wanted to be — that kind of player.

Four years ago, Crestview opened the season in the Kickoff Classic against a team from Santa Rosa County that is near and dear to my heart: my alma mater, Gulf Breeze. That night, freshman safety Tyler Henderson gave fans a glimpse of what he would do the next four years.

Henderson intercepted the first Dolphin pass that came his way and returned it for a touchdown. Only injuries could keep Henderson off the field during his playing days. Henderson is now at Florida Atlantic University, where he's fighting for playing time as a true freshman.

I've learned that each season presents a set of memories all its own. No two teams, no matter how similar, are ever exactly alike. Each generation has memories unique to that time and place.

A few years ago I did a story on the legacy  Donald Griffith and his family made to Baker football. Donald was the first of three generations to play for the Gators. He was a lineman on one of Baker's teams in the 1950s.

Donald's son, Warren, played for the Gators in the mid-1970s and Warren's sons, Drew and Ben, followed the family tradition. I covered the two younger Griffiths.

The Griffiths’ story reminded me that high school football was, and continues to be, a family affair.

Friday night, the lights come on for dress rehearsals. A week from Friday, teams take to the field in games that count.

It's time to strap it on as memories for the making await.

Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: The wait for football is over

It's hard to believe the 2013 high school football season is a little more than two weeks away.

Friday night, Baker School will host Meet the Gators Night and Crestview High School's Jack Foster Stadium will rock with Meet the Bulldogs Night, which is actually a night to meet all the Crestview teams from youth leagues up to Crestview varsity.

The Kickoff Classics will be played a week from Friday. If you want to see Baker, you'll have to make a trip west on Highway 4 to Jay. If you want to see the Bulldogs, get on Highway 90 and head to Pace.

The 2013 regular season opens Aug. 30 as the Bulldogs travel to Milton to take on the Panthers and the Gators are at home against Graceville.

This could be a strong season for Baker and Crestview. The Gators look to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2008. And the Bulldogs seek their first playoff appearance since 2010.

The Gators, who have won an Okaloosa County-best four state championships and 29 playoff games, haven't won a playoff game since 2001. Crestview hasn't won a playoff game since beating St. Augustine 20-10 in the Class 3A state semifinals in 2002.

Crestview plays in the new District 1-7A this year, along with Tate and Niceville. If the Bulldogs beat Tate on Oct. 18 in the district opener, they will probably make the playoffs.

Baker again plays in District 1-1A, along with defending state champion Northview, Freeport and Jay.

An overtime loss to Freeport in 2011 cost the Gators a trip to the playoffs. And a 41-34 loss to the Bulldogs kept Baker out of the playoffs last year.

If the Gators can beat Freeport and Jay, they'll assure themselves a spot in the playoffs, and their game at Northview on Nov. 1 will decide the district championship.

Storylines for Crestview and Baker will unfold in the weeks to come.

How will Crestview's offense look once first-year coach Tim Hatten pulls out all the stops? Will the Bulldog defense, led by Denzel Ware and Kyle Koontz, be up to the task to stop offensive powers Leon, Rickards, Pine Forest, Pensacola and Niceville?

Baker coach Matt Brunson, in his third year at his alma mater, says this is the strongest Gator squad he has had.

Will the added muscle equate to a playoff spot and a run at a state title? Baker tailback D.J. Thomas rushed for more than 1,000 yards as a junior last year. Will he be able to carry Baker into the playoffs this year?

Those questions and others will be answered in the weeks to come as the 2013 season unfolds.

That said, there's only one question remaining.

Are you ready for some football?

Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: The 2013 football season is upon us

My dad, Jim Dickson, passed away early July 30 at age 80. Dad fought a four-year battle with a disease called Multiple Systems Atrophy and, in the end, the disease and old age caught up with him.

I’m now trying to write a column that can sum up the love and everything else Dad and I shared throughout the many years.

The fact is I can't write a column that will do our relationship justice. It's impossible to put into words a bond we often had trouble describing ourselves. But I'll give it a try.

In the movie "The Natural" there's a scene where Roy Hobbs and Iris Gaines talk about their teenage son, who Hobbs knows nothing about.

Gaines says, "My boy is getting to that age where he needs his father." Hobbs replies, "Sure — a father makes all the difference."

Dad made all the difference in my life; he taught me how to throw a baseball, swing a baseball bat, play basketball and ride a bicycle. He would wait in the deep water when I went off the high dive — not trusting just any lifeguard to come to my rescue if something were to happen to me.

I always felt secure knowing Dad was waiting in the water below. I was never afraid to get in over my head because I trusted that he was strong enough to keep me from harm.

Dad shared his love for the University of Tennessee Volunteers with me. Dad was a Volunteer fan so it seemed only natural that I too became a Tennessee fan. We only saw four UT games together live and in person, but we watched countless others together on TV.

Even though we lived 400 miles apart, we managed to watch the games together. Dad would be in his favorite recliner at his place and me in my favorite chair at home as we cheered on the Big Orange.

As is the case with most good fathers, Dad took time to not only teach me the basics of sports but the basics of life as well.

He taught me many of those life lessons as we threw an old baseball around the backyard. The most important lesson he taught me during those long ago games of catch is to take time for those you love.

I know Dad might not have always felt like playing catch, but he was making time for me that I'll always treasure. He was forming a bond that remained strong right up until the very end of his life and, I believe, will last forever.

I could tell you of the years he worked for the railroad or the years afterward that he spent as a Baptist preacher. There were years, before he became a preacher, that were spent coaching youth league sports in Gulf Breeze and working with kids at First Baptist Church of Gulf Breeze.  

Dad was many things to many people, but I was his only son.

I know when a Tennessee football game is on TV in a few weeks that I'll instinctively reach for the phone to call Dad and discuss the game’s ebb and flow.

When I have a question about spiritual things, I'll miss his wise counsel.

I've been told that most fathers and sons don't connect at the emotional level that Dad and I did. I have friends that have never heard their dad tell them how much they love them.

I never doubted in word or deed the depth of love Dad had for me and will continue to have forever.

There will be no more games of catch and no more phone calls, but Jim Dickson will remain my guiding light for the rest of my life.

Dad was one of a kind — the finest kind.

I will miss my role model, hero and friend until I see him again in Heaven.

Thanks for everything Dad.

Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: Dad made all the difference

It’s been said that the South’s two favorite sports are football and spring football.

The waiting between the end of football season and the start of spring football is tempered by basketball/soccer season and baseball/softball season. There are no regular-season high school sports to fill the void between spring football and the fall.

Teams have summer workouts, but those workouts, while well attended, are voluntary. In most cases, a player can miss a few workouts and still be in his coach’s good graces.

Those workouts are fine, but they don't give a curious sports writer much to go on. Yes, I can tell if a kid looks good in shorts, running routes without being hit, but you don't know who can play until they put on pads and start hitting.

Undoubtedly, Crestview High School defensive end Denzel Ware should be this year’s best player in Northwest Florida. 247 sports ranks him as the state’s No. 11 prospect and the nation’s No. 6 weak side defensive end and 109th best prospect. ESPN lists Ware as the country’s No. 83 prospect.

Pensacola Catholic linebacker Delvin Purifoy — who checks in as the nation’s No. 132 prospect and the state’s No. 16 prospect — is the only other player in Northwest Florida ranked among the country’s top 200 players.

Too often, we get caught up in player rankings and forget that most high school football games are won or lost by kids who will never play college ball.

Crestview’s defense will still need 10 other guys to step up and make plays even if Ware lives up to his lofty potential. It’s safe to say that No. 18 (Ware) will receive the most attention from opposing offenses. When he is double or triple teamed, other Bulldog defenders will have to step up and make plays.

For all its individual glory, football, in my opinion, remains the ultimate team sport. Ware drawing the opposition’s attention will free other players to make plays that could lead to a successful 2013 campaign.

And no matter how good the Bulldog defense might be, the offense will still need to execute and score for the team to do well.

The 2013 football season is now less than a month away.

And I'm ready for some football.

Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: Ready for some football