A new season. A new beginning.

High school football season begins anew this evening, and it’s a time of hope and celebration, a time of renewal and pursuit of excellence.

With quickening pulse, I’ll be at Dragon Stadium tonight to watch the Southlake Carroll Dragons take on the potent Tulsa Union Redskins and launch their annual pursuit of a ninth state title.

Some might think it strange – perhaps even a little weird – that a man entering the middle of his sixth decade on the planet could get so excited about a high school football game.

What’s the attraction, you say, particularly in this era of heightened concern over concussions and safety of players?

As I’ve pointed out before, I love the pageantry and color of Friday Night Lights in Texas. The booming discipline of the marching bands. The glittering precision of the drill teams. The cheerleaders and inflated helmets and running of the flags. Student councils exchanging gifts before the game. Proud parents cheering their kids from the stands. Hell, I even like the almost-food served in the volunteer-operated concession stands. I love it all.

But it’s something more, something I can’t really describe without sounding corny and trite. In an age marred by cynicism and suspicion, malfeasance and distrust, insincerity and distain for almost everything, there is a purity in high school athletics, over which football still reigns supreme.

Money hasn’t spoiled it yet. And although the glory of Friday night reflects brightly in the halls of high school on Monday morning, most of these kids know that fame is fleeting. The players know that only a tiny percentage of them will play at the next level. They do what they do because they love it. They enjoy the thrill of achievement, the gleam in their parents’ eyes and, yes, the pride of representing their school.

I warned you it would sound a little corny.

Of course, I’m leaving something out. Something deeply personal.

I love Dragon football because it saved my life – or at least my sanity.

Five years ago, Southlake’s unlikely, nail-biting championship march provided a welcome distraction during one of the lowest periods of my life. When I was laid off by The Dallas Morning News after 26 years, I embraced the Dragons, which I had followed faithfully since my daughter entered high school, like a drowning man seizes a floating log.

I confronted an uncertain future with an abundance of self-doubt, even fear. Would I ever work again? Did I have the energy, talent and imagination to start another career at age 60? Certainly, I had too many responsibilities to just lay down and molder. There was a mortgage to pay, one kid in college and another in high school. But who in hell would hire a man who had spent 37 years in newspapers?

Thank God for the Dragons. For at least a few hours each week, I could put those retched concerns out of my mind and concentrate on football and Southlake’s chase of a state championship. The Dragons were a diverting bunch that year, that’s for sure.

The 2011 team, like the current version, was led by a quarterback with proven skills. Sophomore Kenny Hill, now TCU quarterback, had taken over in the third game of the 2010 season, leading a demoralized Dragon team to the fourth round of the playoffs. Hill won his spot after the Daxx Garman affair ended when the UIL disqualified Southlake’s highly regarded move-in quarterback six hours before the first game of the season.

In 2011, the Dragons struggled during the regular season, narrowly avoiding being upset by a lowly Richardson Berkner squad and struggling with Keller’s mediocre teams. While no one doubted they’d make the playoffs – despite losses to Coppell and Denton Guyer – no one believed they’d survive for long.

But with Hill at the helm and a steadily improving defense, they plowed through the post-season, surviving a first-round squeaker with Plano East, manhandling Cedar Hill, edging past Arlington Bowie, drowning Arlington Martin in a game-long downpour before confronting Dallas Skyline in the semi-finals.

Dominated by the Raiders for the entire game, they trailed by two TDs with less than 3 minutes to play. That’s when Hill took charge, driving the Dragons downfield for a quick TD. After a controversial onside kick – which drew the eventual disapproval of Dallas’ mayor pro tem – Hill again marched the Dragons to the go-ahead TD, but not before encountering a wild gray fox at mid-field. Stuffed toy foxes were in abundance the following week at the finals game in Jerry’s World against Fort Bend Hightower, another close-run victory for Southlake that captured its eighth championship trophy.

By the title game, which always takes place on the weekend before Christmas, I had a good line on a job, things were looking up in the Gunnels household and we managed to enjoy the holidays. With plenty of time on my hands, I had developed a habit of commenting on the games on Facebook. Eventually, that turned into my blog, Dragon Tales & Other Musings, of which this missive is a part.

That brings us to today, Week 1 of the 2016 high school football season. My Dragons are hosting a very good Tulsa Union team tonight. The two programs have fought two classic battles, last year in Tulsa and the year before in Cowboys Stadium. The Dragons won both, by razor-thin margins, so the Redskins are desperate for payback tonight.

Getting it might not be so easy. The Dragons are firming up to be quite formidable.  

Senior quarterback Mason Holmes threw for 2,884 yards and 38 touchdowns last year, but he’ll be breaking in a new receiving corps this season. According to Star-Telegram writer Kevin Lunnquist, they include Hudson Taylor, a JV quarterback last year; Jackson Davis, who played cornerback; Clayton Keyes, a backup; and Cade Bell and Royce Weigel, who both saw only limited time.

Holmes, who isn’t the lethal dual-threat QB that Kenny Hill was, may be charged with running the ball more this season. Dragon coaches are hopeful, however, that Audricke Gaines, a transfer from Mansfield Timberview, can step into the role vacated by graduating Lil’ Jordan Humphrey, now at UT. Gaines’ challenge will be in making the impact on the field that the phenomenal Humphrey did.

Unlike last year, when defense bedeviled Southlake, the Dragon Big Guys are jelling into a solid unit, with senior safety Robert Barnes, an OU commit, emerging as a leader, aided by defensive back Jacob Murphy and defensive end Luke Jeter. Another defensive stalwart, Ryan Miller, playing both sides of the ball, will be joined by left tackle Carson Green.

Can the Dragons repeat the magic of five years ago? That would be nice, but the odds are long. Regardless, hope springs eternal. That’s the intoxicating allure of high school football. I’m climbing aboard for another exciting ride, and I’ll be describing it here each week.

These days, I don’t depend on the Dragons to rescue me from career despair. I’ve got a good job, working for great people engaged in important work. I’m a lucky guy.

Come 7 p.m. tonight, I’ll settle into my reserved green-back seat, Feedstore BBQ sandwich in hand, and bask in the sheer joy of it all. When the whistle blows, a little shiver of anticipation will shoot up my spine and I’ll tense for kickoff.

Go Dragons!