History of sorts was made Sept. 23 when Shenandoah University’s Haley Van Voorhis became the first woman to compete in an NCAA football game at a position other than kicker.

The Baker and Crestview football teams are off this week. That doesn’t change the fact that we have yet to reach the end of September and this is week five of the high school football season.

I wasn’t born Dec. 7, 1941, when the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, throwing the United States into World War II.

And although I was 5-years old in November of 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, I really don’t remember that day.

I’ll be the first to admit I seldom, if ever, understand the workings of the Florida High School Athletic Association. And honestly, that might not be a bad thing.

I believe it was the poet Jon Donne that is first credited with saying, “No man is an island unto himself.”

Anybody that has been fortunate enough to be a member of a team understands the value of being connected to teammates, coaches and even fans. The connections can often last long after the team time has passed.

Congratulations, we have officially survived the football offseason.

Tonight, Aug. 24, the high school football regular season opens when Crestview hosts Rickards at Jack Foster Stadium. Tomorrow, Baker gets to turn on the lights at Doug Griffith Memorial Stadium as the Gators welcome South Walton to town.

As the start of high school sports near so does the march to state championships.

Every team, in every fall sport that starts practice on July 31 and the other sports throughout the school year, should have the goal of a state championship.

I recently saw that a Pensacola Catholic football player is transferring to another school for the upcoming season. The kid isn’t transferring to Pine Forest, Pace, Gulf Breeze, Crestview or Navarre. He’s not even taking his talents a few miles down the road to a school in Bay County.

It seems as if nothing in life has every come easily to me. That includes getting a bad gallbladder taken care of.

Some of you might remember that I was scheduled to have my gallbladder removed in February. Let’s put it this way, reaching the actual gallbladder surgery was trickier than making it through an overgrown cornfield maze.

As a writer my life is filled with words. Sometimes I get caught up in the moment and use hyperbole that leads to getting my thoughts across using a word that has more punch than the event I describe merits.

I try not to make the mistake, but it happens and will continue to.