Pasco County gets cranked up and will be in full-swing once the calendar moves to October, but the first week of the season and the month of September give us some quality games to be on the lookout for if needing some options.

8/28
Victory Christian at Pasco
Mitchell at River Ridge

–A couple of really solid match-ups for the outsider, or a couple of outstanding match-ups if you’re a fan of Pasco County football specifically. The Class 2A State Champions from Lakeland make their way into Dade City and have a noticeably different look without their stars that got them a ring in Orlando. The Pirates have some talented prospects at several positions and showcased quite an offensive outburst in the spring versus Wiregrass Ranch. The game between Mitchell and River Ridge will be an absolute battle and will be one of the highest attended games in the entire region…yeah, that many people will be there and it helps this is a game featuring two programs with perhaps their best squads’ ever.

9/4
Zephyrhills at Sunlake
Nature Coast Tech at Hudson

–Coach Roberts brings his Bulldogs from east county across US-41 and into Land O’Lakes for this game at the Seahawks who, are riding the wave as the top dogs in the county over the last few seasons. The Bulldogs defeated Sunlake 22-7 in the final game of the regular season which adds some incentive to the ‘Hawks and their prep for this contest. Nature Coast Tech and their second year head coach Justin Worden crosses the Hernando/Pasco County line and into the northwest part of Pasco to face the Cobras and their first-year HC Rob Mahler in what should be a great game between teams that like to go about their business in similar fashion.

9/11
Sunlake at Wiregrass Ranch

–Both of these teams begin district play the following week with the ‘Hawks taking on their neighbors and rivals Land O’Lakes, while the Bulls charge down into Citrus Park to face Sickles. But on this night, these two teams will take center stage in what should be a great game between teams that will be vying for top dog in the county for some time to come it seems in the near future.

9/18
Pasco at North Marion

–These two teams have some pretty storied history via the playoffs in recent years past, but now that they are in different classes, this game will get played much earlier on the calendar and should give the Pirates a good indication of where they’re at as a squad nearly halfway through the season by this point. The Colts most definitely have the horses (pun intended) to make a deep run into the postseason again in 5A North, so if you’ve got the gas money, get in the car and head up US-301 near Ocala to see this one.