Seeing some notable things on the way to football season

There is just something about the lead up to the high school football season.Our special football section came out Thursday, and in it, you will find previews and pictures of 20 area football teams.As a veteran of more than 20 special sections, there's always a feeling of accomplishment – not to mention relief – when these projects come out.That's because so much work and so many miles go into a special section. It's fun, but it's very busy.Here are some things that happened during the chase for the special section.LINE 'EM UP: Getting players correctly lined up for team pictures can be a challenge, and often times, photographers have to take several minutes getting everyone correctly set so that everyone's face is visible.Columbus Grove's football team is the exception. They came out, practically as one, nearly perfectly lined up from the get-go.The photographers there made minor modifications, but not many. The whole process took practically no time at all.Columbus Grove has been to back-to-back-to-back state semifinals. The Bulldogs are a tight, disciplined team that focuses on the details and practices hard to prepare for games.Turns out, they take the same approach to picture taking."Believe it or not, that's something that we talk about before we go out here," head coach Andy Schafer said. "'Seniors are gonna be here, juniors are gonna be here.' We don't leave it up to the kids. We tell them exactly what to do, and, obviously, they pay attention."Columbus Grove senior Trevon Baxter said it comes from the team's philosophy."The coaches do stress that even the little things do matter," Baxter said. "Seems like in past years we had problems with pictures, so we had to do better this year."They did.At Grove, it's always about getting better.TRYING TO CATCH A NO-HITTER: While traveling to Van Buren for its football picture day, there was something special unfolding in New York City.Cleveland Guardians pitcher Gavin Williams was throwing a no-hitter against the Mets.I arrived in Van Buren just as the top of the ninth inning was about to unfold."Just my luck," I thought, "Cleveland finally gets a no-hitter and I'm gonna miss it."As I got to the center of Van Buren's football field, I saw the Black Knights coaching staff.Not only did the members of the staff know about the potential no-hitter, but one of them conveniently had the game on his phone.We all huddled around and were watching as Juan Soto hit a one-out homer in the ninth, spoiling Williams' no-hit bid.We all groaned in disappointment. Then, the staff got ready to take the picture.And they say Major League Baseball isn't popular anymore.THURSDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: Thursday night games have become more common in recent years.Columbus Grove and Pandora-Gilboa met Thursday evening for their season opener, as did Vanlue and Leetonia.Vanlue also is scheduled to play Thursday night next week, when it hosts Crestline.It used to be that high school games were exclusively Friday and sometimes Saturday night affairs.Not so anymore. The BVC started scheduling Thursday night games last season due to the statewide official shortage.While it might seem that playing on Thursdays would be a disadvantage, one coach told me they preferred Thursday night games to Saturday games.The coach said that most teams are ready for their games by Thursday. Playing on Saturday, meanwhile, sets preparation for the next week's game back a day.It makes me wonder if we'll see even more Thursday games in the future.Enjoy the season, everyone. Zach Baker is the sports editor for The Courier and Review Times