Where does the time go? With every passing year, it seems to move ever faster.

It seems only yesterday I was filling this space in the 2015 Blitz Preview and yet, here we are again with another season about to begin.

This will be my 32nd season covering high school football in some capacity. I started in the middle of the Reagan Administration and it looks like this season will end shortly before the dawn of a second Clinton Administration or a first Trump Administration.

My parents taught me that politics and religion should be off-limits in most social situations. Like in politics, though, high school football fans can agree to disagree on their favorites, but there always seems to be common ground no matter which way your allegiances go.

Still, my guess is that far fewer prep football fans are unfriending each other or engaging in bitter Twitter battles than are political rivals.

So it should be obvious that I’m voting for high school football. Here’s hoping all 44 of our teams have a role in making Mahoning Valley football great again.

WE’LL DO IT LIVE

As much as we like covering high school football, we also enjoy talking about it. We think we share common ground on that with Mahoning Valley fans, which is why we’re about to launch Blitz Live. We think it’s the next big thing in high school football coverage. Consider it the next generation, similar to the launch of the Blitz print and online platforms nine years ago.

The new venture is a live — hence the name — weekly show each Friday night from our Vindy Talk Radio studio. The show will run from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. It will include preview chatter, remote updates from our crew of Vindicator sportswriters and correspondents at various game sites (audio and video) and special guests. Studio hosts Greg Gulas, Corey Crisan and Sean Ferguson will provide a healthy dose of scores updates, both in-studio and via social media.

“Blitz Live is the newest interactive high school football radio show in the Valley,” said Ferguson, who doubles as a social-media specialist in the newsroom. “Every Friday night, tune in from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. for live scores, stadium updates and colorful insight from our in-studio Valley pros.”

You could be watching a game at one site and getting immediate updates from a slew of other games across the Mahoning Valley.

“Be it news or sports, we live in a world that wants to know instantly what is happening around us,” said Gulas, a long-time Vindicator correspondent.

“We do not want to wait until the following day for a re-cap of the action. With Blitz Live and all of the social media components currently now available, our goal is to bring to you — the fan and listening public — immediacy you can’t get anywhere else. It’s a one-stop shop for the football information you desire.”

THE NEW GUYS

Several Valley teams will have new head coaches walking the sidelines.

Making their debuts in Week 1 will be Nick Wagner (Champion), Jerron Jenkins (East), Doug Velasquez (Lowellville), John Protopapa (Mathews), Ryan Williams (Poland) and Albert “Butch” Jennings (Valley Christian).

Wagner is a former Canfield lineman and was an assistant at Valley Christian from 2008-15. His last role there was offensive coordinator. Wagner has installed a completely new group of assistants, all in their first season at Champion, so it will be interesting to see what the Golden Flashes might do differently. They were 4-6 last season.

Jenkins coached at the original East in the 1990s and also has been a long-time assistant in the Valley. The Panthers were competitive last year under former head coach P.J. Mays. In fact, they pushed Ursuline, Howland, Poland, Canfield and Hubbard in close losses. East (2-8) got its wins back-to-back over Liberty and Niles in Weeks 3 and 4.

Velasquez last was a head coach in 2013 at Mineral Ridge, but has been an assistant at Boardman, Springfield, Struthers and Ursuline in Mahoning County and Beaver Local and Salem in Columbiana County. The Rockets can use some stability after the offseason resignations of veteran head coach Jeff D’Altorio and later Mays, who left East for Lowellville. They were 2-8 a year ago, with a forfeit win over Bellaire St. John Central and a rout of Leetonia.

Protopapa is another long-time Valley guy who has been a head coach and an assistant for years. He inherits a Mustangs team that is coming off back-to-back playoff appearances under former coach Mike Palumbo.

Williams inherits perhaps the best situation and the most pressure. He takes over a perennial playoff team in the Bulldogs, who had been led by former Youngstown State quarterback Mark Brungard. Poland made the playoffs in nine of Brungard’s 11 seasons. Williams, who played at Boardman under then-head coach Bill Bohren, was Brungard’s defensive coordinator throughout his tenure with the Bulldogs. Poland was 9-2 last season, including a first-round playoff loss to Louisville.

Jennings played at Liberty University under former Cleveland Browns coach Sam Rutigliano. Jennings led Virginia Episcopal School to back-to-back VISAA state championships. He takes over an Eagles program that has struggled since going deep into the playoffs in 2012 under long-time coach Brian Marrow. Valley Christian was 1-9 last season, avoiding a winless season with a 21-20 win over Garfield Heights Trinity in Week 10.

GAMES TO WATCH

The season begins, as usual, with a Thursday night primer in Week 1.

The annual Girard-Niles opener is at Bo Rein Stadium in Niles. Liberty visits Struthers and Lisbon hosting Tuscarawas Central Catholic the same night. Here are three other games to watch each week:

Week 1: Columbiana at Western Reserve, McDonald at South Range, Ursuline at Cleveland Benedictine.

Week 2: Boardman at Cardinal Mooney, Ursuline at East, Warren JFK at LaBrae, Poland at Niles.

Week 3: East Palestine at Columbiana, Fitch at Louisville, Warren Harding at Massillon.

Week 4: Akron SV-SM at Cardinal Mooney, Howland at Poland, Warren Harding at Fitch.

Week 5: Canfield at Struthers, Ursuline at Warren Harding, South Range at Lisbon.

Week 6: Fitch at Massillon, South Range at Springfield, Struthers at Poland.

Week 7: East Palestine at Crestview, McDonald at Western Reserve, Warren Harding at Boardman.

Week 8: Niles at Howland, Cardinal Mooney at Warren Harding, Ursuline at Boardman.

Week 9: Boardman at Fitch, Cardinal Mooney at Ursuline, Hubbard at Poland.

Week 10: Akron SV-SM at Ursuline, Cardinal Mooney at Fitch, Poland at Canfield.

Write back to Vindicator Sports Editor Ed Puskas at epuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @EdPuskas_Vindy.