Five weeks into the high school football season, I know less now than I did when we were writing preseason features. Columbiana head coach Bob Spaite is a main contributor to my confusion.

Spaite’s offseason was one you wouldn’t wish on anyone. Fourteen players who could have returned from last year’s team didn’t. That might not be a big deal to a Division I program like Austintown Fitch or Warren Harding. But a Division VI program relies on veterans to set an example.

“It’s been the perfect storm,” Spaite said back in August. “In 40 years of coaching, I have never had [such a mess for] a bizarre combination of reasons as I’ve witnessed.

“It’s just weird.”

Spaite’s math added up so I bought into his chaos theory. Five weeks later, Columbiana is 3-2 with the meat of its Inter Tri-County League Tier One schedule awaiting (Crestview, South Range and Lisbon). But 3-2? Who saw that coming? (Not me).

In our weekly Blitz Picks, everyone picked against the Clippers when they played Western Reserve in the opener. Armed with “insider knowledge,” I picked Leetonia to upset the Clippers the following week.

Wrong.

Two weeks later, I was certain United would snap the Clippers’ two-game winning streak that was unimaginable in August.

Wrong.

Columbiana traveled to Hanoverton and posted a convincing 41-28 victory.

“United was a huge win for us, probably the first quality win we’ve had in a couple of years,” Spaite said. “We beat somebody we probably shouldn’t have beat.”

Last week, one-loss Columbiana hosted one-loss Springfield. I covered the Tigers’ loss, a 19-14 defeat at McDonald, a game where the Springfield offense was shut down until it went no-huddle late in the third quarter.

The Tigers hadn’t lost since that game. Columbiana was coming off a big road win. I chose the Clippers.

Wrong.

The Tigers scored 50 points by halftime.

“We got exposed at Western Reserve and against Springfield,” Spaite said. “We’re young and inexperienced in a lot of places.”

Spaite is pleased with his team’s progress.

“We’ve got a shot now to have a winning season,” Spaite said.

Columbiana is one of several surprise teams this fall among the smaller schools in the Mahoning Valley. Another is Lisbon (4-1). In Jim Tsilimos’ fourth season back as Blue Devils head coach, Lisbon is off to its best season in more than a decade.

However, the Blue Devils’ schedule is loaded with challenges — Crestview (3-2), Columbiana, United (4-1) and Springfield (4-1) are next.

Other teams in Division V or lower off to strong starts include Liberty (4-1), Girard (4-1), McDonald (5-0) and Lowellville (3-2).

I haven’t forgotten Ursuline (3-2) and Western Reserve (5-0) — they were expected to excel.

So far, my biggest surprise came when Crestview shocked everyone last Friday with a 63-42 win over South Range (3-2). The Raiders, who went unbeaten last fall, couldn’t stop Rebels quarterback Jesse Best (315 yards rushing, another 83 passing).

South Range head coach Dan Yeagley said that Best successfully has filled the role that Collin Gilbert and Carter Hill played in recent seasons.

“It’s their offense,” Yeagley said. ‘Coach [Paul] Cusick runs it very well.”

The Crestview-Springfield game looms as a big one.

Then again, what do I know?

Tom Williams is a sportswriter at The Vindicator. Write him at williams@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @Williams_Vindy.