While it looked like the GEICO ESPN High School Football Kickoff weekend might been in trouble this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s a go. Starting Friday, high school football fans across the nation will be treated to seven games on ESPN and ESPN2.
Headlining the weekend will be three teams that would have been in the Preseason High School Football America 100 had we not delayed it until the October 4 due to COVID-19 changing schedules on a daily basis.
Read: What the HSFA 100 would have been before COVID-19
Two-time defending Utah state champ Corner Canyon, the current No. 1 team in the state, will play Bingham Friday night. The Chargers own one of the top offenses in the nation with quarterback Jaxson Dart having a hand in eleven touchdowns in two games.
Read: High School Football America Utah Top 10
After finishing No. 22 in the High School Football America 100 in 2019, the Chargers, who have scored 106 points in two games, were slated to begin No. 47.
On Saturday, St. Xavier from Cincinnati, Ohio will face Indiana’s Brownsburg High, currently ranked No. 3 in the High School Football America Indiana Top 10. It’s one of only a handful interstate games being played during the pandemic.
Read: High School Football America Indiana Top 10
St. X was scheduled to start No. 71 in 2020 after finishing No. 86 last year in our national rankings.
The third team that would have started in our 2020 preseason rankings that will appear on national television is Pickerington Central, Ohio’s defending Division I state champs. The Tigers will play Pickerington North on Sunday.
PC, which finished No. 19 in the nation last year, was slated to be No. 54 in our preseason rankings that are created with our proprietary algorithm.
In addition to the matchup between Brownsburg and St. X, there will be two other interstate games — Trinity Christian (Texas) vs. Knoxville Catholic (Tennessee) and Bentonville West (Arkansas) vs. Broken Arrow (Oklahoma).
The Trinity Chrisitan-Knoxville Catholic game features two high-profile quarterbacks — senior Shedeur Sanders, son of NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, and junior Kaden Martin, son of Tee Martin, who is currently the University of Tennessee’s assistant head coach.
Below is this weekend entire schedule:
Friday, August 28
7 P.M. – St. Paul’s (Alabama) vs. Spanish Fort (Alabama), ESPN
10 P.M. – Bingham (Utah) vs. Corner Canyon (Utah), ESPN
Saturday, August 29
Noon – Knoxville Catholic (Tennessee) vs. Trinity Christian (Cedar Hill, Texas), ESPN
3 P.M. – Bentonville West (Arkansas) vs. Broken Arrow (Oklahoma), ESPN
6 P.M. – Brownsburg (Indiana) vs. St. Xavier (Ohio), ESPN 2
9 P.M. – Century (North Dakota) vs. Legacy (North Dakota), ESPN 2
Sunday, August 30
Noon – Pickerington Central (Ohio) vs. Pickerington North (Ohio), ESPN2
