I'm off to a flying start.

Some of our area football teams can say the same.

Butler got off the deck with a season-opening win over New Castle, breaking a 10-game losing streak.

Slippery Rock and Mars both roared to 35-0 wins. Moniteau rallied to beat an old nemesis in Clarion and Karns City, sans several starters, still tossed up a goose egg on Punxsutawney.

Lets see if I, and our local grid teams, can keep soaring this week.

On to the picks:

•

Erie McDowell 22, Seneca Valley 21 — On television and in prime time, the Raiders come so, so close to knocking off McDowell.The triple option has been the Raiders' bugaboo, and McDowell runs it well.•

Norwin 22, Butler 21 — Don't check your eyes. This pick is from the Department of Redundancy Department.Like the Raiders, the Tornado come oh so close.•

Knoch 26, Blackhawk 23 — I'm not ready to give up on the Knights after just one week.Remember, last year Knoch was shut out in the season opener. How did that season turn out? Pretty good.•

Mars 18, Hopewell 17 — We'll find out more about Mars

and Knoch after this game. Hopewell's defense stuffed Knoch last week. The Planets' running game should do just well enough to win.•

Karns City 50, Union 11 — Nice way to start the season for the Golden Knights, eh? Open with a team three times your size and then play perennial power Karns City the next week.The Gremlins roll.•

Moniteau 36, Clarion-Limestone 11 — The Warriors go 2-for-2 against teams fromClarion.•

Slippery Rock 29, Oil City 14 — This could be a shootout.The Rockets have a potent offense led by Jono Powell. OilCity likes to fling the ball all over the field. The Oilers went to the air almost 40 times last week.But this Slippery Rock team is solid on both sides of the ball. As long as Powell stays healthy, this is a team that's going places.•

Clarion 37, A-C Valley 8 — The Falcons have Luke Walker. They scored three touchdowns last week. That's a start.•

Apollo-Ridge 35, Summit Academy 11 — Each year, Summit starts from scratch, so it's always hard to put a finger on the Knights early in the season.Apollo-Ridge is a known commodity and it is better at this point than the Knights.•

Shady Side Academy 25, Freeport 13 — The Yellowjackets are energized this season, coming up with a big season-opening win over rival Kittanning.But Shady Side is the hip pick to be among the class of the conference. Freeport? I just don't know enough about that team yet.•

Grove City 26, Erie East 14 — Things were going great for the Eagles until Mike Burk got hurt. After that, Grove City's offense sputtered and it had to hang on for dear life to beat Erie Central Tech.East is a team that always seems to struggle. Grove City should have an easier time this week.Scoop is 9-3 this season. The three losses weren't his fault, but the fault of the team he picked losing.