High school football: Preseason rankings

It’s that fun first week of high school football when you can watch games almost every night.

Monday night sees a doubleheader at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock and a doubleheader at Cliff Harris Stadium in Arkadelphia.

Tuesday night sees another doubleheader at War Memorial Stadium along with a doubleheader at Golden Lion Stadium in Pine Bluff. Meanwhile, at Arkansas State University’s stadium in Jonesboro, ranked teams Batesville and Jonesboro square off in the Simmons Bank Classic in one of the biggest games of Week One.

Thursday night sees Bauxite battle Benton Harmony Grove in a game of interest since both teams have big-name new coaches who dropped down from higher classifications.

Dozens of games take place on Friday, including the Salt Bowl between Benton and Bryant at War Memorial Stadium. A crowd of at least 30,000 people is expected.

I’ll be on the air from 10 p.m. until midnight each Friday on more than 40 radio stations across Arkansas with scores, highlights, statistics, interviews and updated rankings. For those of you in central Arkansas, we can be heard on KARN-FM, 102.9.

Let’s get to it.

Here are the preseason rankings:

Overall

1. Fayetteville

2. Greenwood

3. Pulaski Academy

4. Cabot

5. Bentonville

6. Pine Bluff

7. Springdale Har-Ber

8. North Little Rock

9. Jonesboro

10. Benton

Class 7A

1. Fayetteville

2. Cabot

3. Bentonville

4. Springdale Har-Ber

5. North Little Rock

Class 6A

1. Greenwood

2. Pine Bluff

3. Jonesboro

4. Benton

5. El Dorado

Class 5A

1. Pulaski Academy

2. Batesville

3. Wynne

4. Alma

5. Little Rock McClellan

Class 4A

1. Warren

2. Nashville

3. Shiloh Christian

4. Ashdown

5. Central Arkansas Christian

Class 3A

1. Harding Academy

2. Glen Rose

3. Junction City

4. Prescott

5. Charleston

Class 2A

1. England

2. Danville

3. Rison

4. Mount Ida

5. Hector