The new school year has begun and one of the Atlantic Hurricane season’s first major storms is churning off Florida’s East Coast – so it must be time to kick off the high school football season.

Check the calendar. Late August. Yep. It’s preseason football “classic” weekend around Southwest Florida.

Cape Coral High, North Fort Myers and Bishop Verot all host area opponents for preseason scrimmages with kickoff at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Palmetto Ridge is at Cape High, Port Charlotte visits North Fort Myers and Cypress Lake heads to Bishop Verot.

Island Coast, Ida Baker and Mariner go on the road for their first tests that concludes three weeks of preseason practices for the upcoming season. Island Coast invades Lehigh while Baker heads to Dunbar and Mariner takes a ride up to DeSoto County.

In other area preseason matchups Friday night: Estero visits Barron Collier, South Fort Myers goes to Gulf Coast, Riverdale hosts East Lee County, Southwest Florida Christian entertains Keswick Christian and Chaminade-Madonna Prep visits Naples Lely.

Neighborhood rivals Cape Coral and North Fort Myers waste no time in playing a meaningful game in the season opener on Sept. 2 at North’s Moody Field.

The Seahawks are coming off a 10-2 season and an appearance in the regional semifinals, but 30 players who guided them to a 21-3 record over two seasons graduated.

“We only have one returning starter on defense,” said Seahawks coach Brad Metheny, “and only four back on offense.”

Returning senior T.J. Giles fills one slot on both units while the defensive unit has been handed over to mostly JV experienced players.

A 3-7 record last season, including losing the last five games, left a bad taste for the Red Knights.

“We had four freshmen play varsity and fill roles last season. A number of the games were close. We just didn’t put it together,” said coach Barry Goettemoeller, who believes team chemistry and a blue-collar attitude can help the Knights overcome returning just 12 of 22 starters. “The young guys are working hard to fill the shoes of those who left us.”

Mariner High coach Chris Siner is excited to enter a season where he has directed the team through spring and summer workouts.

“It’s makes a huge difference,” said Siner. “I got to know the kids and they got to know me. I got to see our strengths and our weaknesses, and how each player developed.”

Siner is enthusiastic about returning eight starters on offense, including the entire offensive line and a trio of runningbacks the Tritons will lean on heavily.

Bishop Verot embarks on a season that the Vikings hope turns into their fifth straight winning season.

The biggest challenge facing the Vikings is to fill the shoes of graduated quarterback Jake Kistel. Four candidates are vying for the starting job. Coach Phil Dorn says they all had a good chance at winning it, but he wasn’t leaning toward any one of them just yet. That may change after Friday’s preseason game with Cypress Lake.

Meanwhile, other season-opening matchups include Ida Baker at Estero, and Island Coast “hosting” Delaware Valley (Pa.) in Orlando.