Are you ready for some football?

Well, you better be, 'cause it's here and I'm so excited, I'm laying eggs everywhere.

Hopefully, our Butler County area teams won't lay any eggs in their season openers Friday and Saturday.

A 1-0 start sure beats 0-1.

On to the picks:

•

Butler 20, New Castle 19 — The rivalry was renewed last season and the Golden Tornado toppled the Red Hurricanes in the battle of natural disasters.Butler will try to control the clock to keep the high-powered New Castle offense off the field. The Tornado will succeed.•

Seneca Valley 22, Norwin 21 — It's always hard to predict the outcome of games in the first week of the season. No one truly knows how good — or how bad — teams will be out of the gate.But the Raiders, with a new coach, figure to be good enough to edge Norwin.•

Hopewell 29, Knoch 14

— The Knights' offense is squarely on the shoulders of Jake McTighe. There is lots of youth around McTighe and it might take Knoch a few weeks to iron out the kinks that inexperience causes.•

Mars 32, Moon 11 — In a battle of celestial bodies, always pick Mars.•

Fort LeBoeuf 17, Slippery Rock 14 — Talk about a great unknown — the Rockets certainly are the biggest.Not only did Slippery Rock lose a wealth of talent from a team that took eventual state champion Wilmington to the brink in an overtime loss in the district final, the school also lost

two head coaches in the offseason.Glenn Hazlet is now at the helm and is trying to mold the Rockets into a physical, hard-nosed team.That's sort of what Fort LeBoeuf has become after a miserable start last season.•

Karns City 20, Punxsutawney 11 — In a fight between a Gremlin and a Chuck, always pick the Gremlin.•

Moniteau 26, Clarion 14 — Rarely do you see a game as big as this one in the first week of the season.This tilt has KSAC implications all over it.But Moniteau has a ton of talent returning on defense and a swagger to go with it.•

Freeport 19, Kittanning 8 — This could be the Yellowjackets' year to squeeze into the playoffs. Like the Moniteau-Clarion matchup, this is a huge Week 1 conference clash.•

Brookville 33, Union 11 — Because I like the symmetry.•

Keystone 32, A-C Valley 10 — Not sure what kind of kicking game the Falcons have, but a touchdown and two safeties could get them 10 points, too.•

Shady Side Academy 34, Summit Academy 14 — Predicting a Summit Academy game in the season opener is a very inexact science. Then again, the Knights have never won a season opener in their history.•

Grove City 24, Erie Central Tech 7 — Saturday afternoon games are always tricky and the Eagles will get plenty of practice playing on the weekend: two of their first three games are on Saturday.Central, though, should pose no threat to Grove City, no matter what day they play.Scoop is shooting for a perfect 128-0 record.