Kenny Chesney, the country-music recording artist, saluted his youth last year with the song “Boys of Fall.”

It was his ode to the football stars he grew up with. Aside from being played over and over and over (and over) again on the radio — it was a song that many in the Mahoning Valley can relate to.

Because, like hundreds of other small towns around the country, we in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties mark the calendar each year, counting down the weeks and days until the first Friday night of the high school season.

We make it a point to find out when and where our kids (or our friends’ and neighbors’ children) are going to play.

It’s a scenario that’s been played out over generations through the Valley.

Names like Fesler, and Dove, and Gradishar, and Browner, and Warfield, and Kosar, and Bell, have been passed down. Their legacies have stood the test of time and will forever be the measuring stick against which future standouts will be tested.

So too, the monikers of more recent vintage, like Clarett, Patton, Davis, Mahone and Teague — stars of the fall who have stood above all others on the fields of play.

We invite you to open these pages to discover the newest group of established stars — and some who may prove to just have more stars in their eyes.

We’ll follow them all season, in print and on Vindy.com, so check back often to keep up with our Boys of Fall.

Rob Todor is sports editor at The Vindicator. E-mail him at todor@vindy.com