Looking for a high school football opener to watch? Here are 6

The pads are popping this week with the start of practice and, two weeks from Friday, the high school football season officially gets started.

As an appetizer, here are six games involving local teams we're looking forward to on Aug. 21:

• Center Grove at Warren Central: This has become the marquee opener since the schedule was realigned in 2013. Center Grove won at Warren two years ago and the Warriors returned the favor on the road last year in a 12-9 overtime slugfest. Warren Central coach Jayson West is a former assistant under Center Grove's Eric Moore, so the programs are well-connected. Both also had seasons ended last year by Ben Davis in heartbreaking fashion. Now that Warren Central has moved to Sectional 7, these teams could – and probably will – meet again in the regional.

• Carmel at Hamilton Southeastern: These natural rivals resumed their regular season series last year for the first time since 2004. Carmel won, 14-7, on its way to a 13-0 start. HSE finished 4-6 for its first losing season since 1993. The Royals have plenty of talent returning at the skill positions, in addition to Purdue recruit Collin Miller at linebacker. The big home crowd would love nothing more than hand Carmel a loss in its first game under coach John Hebert.

• Cathedral at Lawrence Central: It makes a lot of sense for these neighbors to play one another, though it hasn't happened since 1997. And they could meet twice, now that Cathedral is in Class 6A and in the same Sectional 6 with the Bears. Since winning a state title in 2012, Lawrence Central is 7-14. But coach Jed Richman's was competitive against top competition last year and has one of the state's best running backs in Cincinnati recruit Gerrid Doaks.

• Lawrence North at Noblesville: Lawrence North sent a message last year that it was on the verge or returning to relevance with a 36-33 loss to Noblesville in the opener. The Wildcats finished 1-9 but are worth keeping an eye on this year with a strong junior class under third-year coach Patrick Mallory. Noblesville is coming off back-to-back .500 seasons and has experience at the skill positions.

• Southport vs. Roncalli, at Lucas Oil Stadium: This game, an 8:30 p.m. start, follows the Decatur Central-Franklin Central game at 6 p.m. Southport has knocked off Roncalli the last two seasons and has one of the area's top quarterbacks in senior Luke Johnston, who passed for 3,228 yards last season.

• Pike at Brownsburg: This is a tough one to peg. Pike is coming off a 4-6 season and has a new coach in Jimmy Graves but also beat Brownsburg 59-19 in last year's opener. That was on the heels of a 57-7 Pike win in the 2013 sectional. Brownsburg was 3-7 last year but has talent at quarterback (Hunter Johnson), running back (Toks Akinribade) and receiver (Tyler Kirtz).

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.