The wait is almost over in the Beach District.

The long football offseason ends Friday when five Beach games kick off at 7 p.m., plus there are two South Hampton Roads private school games that also open the season.

*** an UPDATE at 9:50 p.m. Thursday -- we've just learned that the private school game between Tidewater Academy and Portsmouth Christian has been moved to Saturday at 3 p.m. because the new lights on Portsmouth Christian's field are not ready for use ***

The advance stories and capsules are edited and ready to go for Friday's Pilot. Jami Frankenberry, Larry Rubama and Mike Keech all have interesting advance stories for their three games.

Mike's story focuses on the high hopes Kellam coach Chris DeWitt has for his team. The Knights open up at First Colonial. The thrust of Larry's story is the high expectations on Green Run this season. The Stallions host Tallwood.

Jami's story looks into the questions facing Salem, which has graduated a ton of players after winning back-to-back Beach District titles, going into its opener against Landstown at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex.

I don't want to give too much away, but I found it very interesting that both Jami and Larry have picked Salem to defeat Landstown in this opener.

Maybe interesting isn't the right word. Maybe surprising is a better word. Salem has so many question marks and so many holes to fill, I just don't see Salem winning this one. Should be one heckuva opener, no matter who wins. But I'll take Landstown in this one.

It's difficult to pick against Robert Jackson, who has proven to be one of the best coaches around, both in his time at Bayside and now at Salem. Maybe the Jackson factor is why Jami and Larry see Salem, despite all its question marks, winning this game. And the Jackson factor is clearly an important element in this one. As the old saying goes, he's one of those coaches who can take his and beat yours, then turn around and take yours and beat his.

But I'll go the other way. I'll take Landstown.

Let the games begin. Those of us who love high school football can't wait.

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