Q. How many people from Niles does it take to change a lightbulb?

A. Fifty. One to change it and the other 49 to tell you how good their football team used to be.

I spent the first 21 years of my life in Hartville, Ohio, a town run by the Mennonite Mafia, which openly flaunts its use of electricity and will make you a pie that you can’t refuse.

Hartville and the Mahoning Valley have a few differences — for instance, in Youngstown, they ask “Would you like wedding soup with that?” even when you’re at the gas station — but they both have people who revere the past.

Sometimes they revere it a little too much, like when they’re so resistant to seeing Giant Eagle take over the local IGA that they write comment cards accusing the butcher of walking around without any pants (note: It didn’t work) or when you show up at a “Walk for Life” in Boardman and the guy next to you starts talking about Tony Mason’s Niles football teams within 60 seconds of meeting you DESPITE HAVING NO IDEA WHAT YOU DO FOR A LIVING.

Q. Is there a point to this column?

A. I’m getting there.

That reverence is a good thing, too. It’s what links Maurice Clarett to Ted Bell, Brad Smith to Frank Sinkwich, Bernie Kosar to Paul Warfield. It’s what makes this place special, because you know when you cover a football game in Niles, many of your readers grew up watching guys like Bo Rein and John Hlay.

That’s why we’ve started something called Blitz History.

If you go to our Blitz website (Vindy.com/Blitz), you’ll see a link to our Blitz History page, which features scores dating back to 1990 for every school in the tri-county area, as well as Chaney.

Why only 1990? Well, because it takes a LONG time to type these in. I know because I typed in 95 percent of them on my days off this summer while re-watching “Mad Men” episodes on Netflix. By the time I got to Columbiana County, my brain was the same consistency as the delicious mashed potatoes and gravy served at the Hartville Kitchen. (“The best in homestyle cooking, since 1966!”)

We hope, over the next few years, to expand the site to include scores dating back several more decades, as well as area playoff histories (by team and by year), all-time conference champions, statewide goodies like AP poll champions and Mr. Football winners and fun photos of Bob Stoops with a Beatles haircut.

Basically, we want to bridge the Valley’s proud football past with its present, so you don’t just have to tell people how good Niles’ football team used to be. You can show them.

To do this, we need your help. Visit the site, check the scores and email us (sports@vindy.com) if we get something wrong.

One more thing. Columbiana coach Bob Spaite ends his emails with a wonderful quote from Napoleon Bonaparte: “Never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.” If we screwed up a score, I promise you: it wasn’t on purpose. So, if you do have a correction, please don’t start the email with “Dear biased jerkwad ...”

The Vindicator isn’t just a daily newspaper. It’s the Valley’s history book, one that lives on in microfilm, cyberspace and bird cages.

We’re proud to make Blitz History one of the chapters.

Joe Scalzo covers sports for The Vindicator. Write to him at scalzo@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter @JoeScalzo1.