Hardeeville High began its football season with a 28-12 loss Thursday night to Savannah-based Beach High. The game was played at Memorial Stadium in Savannah.

The Hurricanes played without quarterback Philip Harris (suspension) and fullback/linebacker Michael Kinlaw (hernia operation).

The Jasper County Sun's football preview guide is available in our Aug. 25 edition. The guide includes previews of the area's teams, including key players, top newcomers and projected starters.

Inside you'll read about the Hardeeville seniors' close-knit bond, how Ridgeland expects to be a perenial playoff team, which players add depth to Thomas Heyward and how Abundant Life's new coach is adapting to coaching eight-man.

Here's a look at some notes on the football opponents this area's teams will face this week.

Hardeeville at Beach (Savannah)

Hardeeville, Ridgeland and Thomas Heyward's varsity football teams begin the regular season this week. Hardeeville visits Savannah's Beach High School on Thursday and Friday Ridgeland hosts Bluffton and Thomas Heyward hosts St. Paul.
Here's a look at how each school has fared in recent season openers:

2009

Hardeeville 18, Bluffton 6

There's no doubt in Rhonda Lowther's mind that if an emergency arises, Thomas Heyward's coaches will instantly act.
"I will promise you, you will respond," Lowther said. "It will freak you out."
If they don't?
"Think about if you had to stand there and watch a kid die because you didn't know what to do," Lowther said. "How horrible, horrible, horrible a feeling that would be."

The feeling of being on a college campus and surrounded by tall buildings and trophies and large weight rooms gave Hardeeville High senior Terrell Knighton a confidence boost.
"It makes you feel like you are the best," Knighton said.
During the summer Knighton, his brother Jarrell, Jamal Kinlaw and a several other Hurricanes visited colleges to attend football camps.
Terrell Knighton, a lineman, running back and linebacker, visited Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) Wofford and Coastal Carolina.

There will be one Ridgeland youth football team competing this season after all.
Harry Jackson, president of the Ridgeland Little League Tigers, said Monday that the Tigers will not play this season.
The Tigers were set to compete in the Beaufort County PALS youth football program, but Jackson said the Tigers did not have enough players.
"We didn't have a good turnout," he said.
The Tigers lost players to Ridgeland's other team, the Jr. Jaguars.
Jackson said the Tigers decided about a week ago to cancel their season.

Thomas Heyward's volleyball team is ready to compete. The Rebels will vie in SCISA's Region 1-AA this season and coach Leanne Eddy expects the team to succeed.
"We're looking to put a banner on the wall," Eddy said.
Eddy hopes to compete for a region title and make the playoffs for the first time since 2005, Eddy's first season as coach.
Eddy, who stepped down as coach in September of 2007 and returned last year, thinks the Rebels will have more confidence playing against teams at their skill level.

The wait is almost over.
On Saturday afternoon the Ridgeland Jr. Jaguars are set to make their debut as they host the Low Country Youth Football League's jamboree.
The jamboree always draws a large crowd, but there's great interest this year because the Jr. Jaguars are a fledgling program.
"I really think we will have a bigger crowd this year," Jr. Jaguars commissioner Jollie Orr said. "People are so curious; they really are going to see what's going on."

James Gardner believes the standards for student-athletes need to be raised.
"It just needs to be done," said Gardner, the Jasper County School District's athletics director. "The standard from the South Carolina High School League does not work for Jasper County."
The S.C. High School League requires student-athletes to have an overall passing average (70) to compete, but Gardner believes that is too low.
He wants the county's student-athletes to go onto college, but the athletes won't be accepted if they're barely passing.