I should have known better. As soon as I topped the hill leading to the Red Bank High School campus and saw the line of cars slowly snaking their way to park, I cursed myself for thinking I could get to a rivalry football game five minutes before kickoff and not sit in traffic.

Apparently everybody in the Highway 27 corridor in Hamilton County has been as anxious as me for the first full week of the high school football season. The overflow crowd at Red Bank Community Stadium for Thursday night’s back-and-forth grudge match with Soddy-Daisy was a great way to kick off as good a first full week of games as I can remember.

Opening the season with a handful of rivalry games only adds to the excitement of the start of the season. Years ago, nonleague rivalry games were pushed back to the end of the season, but many area coaches now prefer to play those games early, then focus on region opponents and the playoffs.

And some of our area’s top rivalries are among nonregion foes, including Red Bank vs. Soddy-Daisy and continuing tonight with five of the most contentious meetings of the entire season. The close proximity makes games between Cleveland and Bradley Central, Marion County and South Pittsburg, Brainerd and Tyner, Ridgeland and Gordon Lee, and North Jackson and Scottsboro all the more important to those communities.

Each side knows how to get under the skin of its opponent, and as with any good family feud it’s all the little drama, such as new Soddy-Daisy head coach E.K. Slaughter coming from Red Bank and new Marion County coach Troy Boeck having spent eight years as a South Pittsburg assistant, that make these games so interesting.

Besides those traditional foes, one series that resumed two years ago — Dalton vs. Calhoun — has been as entertaining as any with the Yellow Jackets winning last year on the final play of the game and Dalton holding off a late Calhoun drive the year before to claim a four-point win.

Each of those teams plays a region opponent next week, but I’ll bet 10 years from now most every player will tell stories and remember a lot more about tonight’s rivalry games than those supposedly more important region matchups. Regardless of postseason finish, the memories and bragging rights Soddy-Daisy claimed by handing Red Bank its first regular-season loss in three years will last a lifetime.

It would be much the same if the Bradley Central players end Cleveland’s 11-game series streak. And the tractor whistle might blow all weekend if Marion County knocks off defending state champion South Pittsburg. Especially considering University of Alabama coach Nick Saban will reportedly be in attendance to watch Pirates running back David Jones.

That’s why there’s nothing better than the atmosphere created by the passion of the fans filling the stands and the enthusiasm of the kids on the field.

Whichever of these rivalries you choose to attend tonight, a word to the wise after being reminded Thursday night: Arrive early.

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