High school football season begins with scrimmages Friday

The road to celebrating 2026 football state championships begins Friday with high school scrimmages across the state.

Shelbyville will host a potential sectional opponent in Jennings County at McKeand Stadium.

Triton Central will travel to Milan, a Class A regional champion in 2025, to officially kick off the Tim Kegley era as head coach.

Both scrimmages are scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

Giant FM will host a preseason football show Friday live from McKeand Stadium at Shelbyville. The show will air at 6:30 p.m. and continue through the opening minutes of Shelbyville's scrimmage against Jennings County.

Tune in at 96.5 fm, 1520 am, 106.3 fm or online at Giant.fm

Shelbyville

After winning just three games in a five-year span, Shelbyville head coach Scott Fitzgerald’s return to the program has resulted in three-, one- and five-win seasons to get the program trending upward.

Graduation took record-setting running back Donavon Martin but the Golden Bears have plenty of offensive weapons returning in Grantland Fitzgerald, Austin Martzall and Camden Thoman.

And there is a battle for the starting quarterback role between senior Tyler Gwinnup and sophomore Layden Fitzgerald.

Head coach Jason Burton is trying to rebuild Jennings County’s program in the same mold as Fitzgerald at Shelbyville. In his first season in 2024, the Panthers finished 0-10. Year two saw the program improve to 2-8.

The Golden Bears open the 2026 season Aug. 21 against Greensburg (4-8 last season) at McKeand Stadium.

Triton Central

Tim Able’s wildly successful tenure as head coach at Triton Central came to an end when the Hall of Fame coach went into retirement following the 2025-2026 school year.

Veteran assistant coach Tim Kegley was promptly promoted to head coach which has allowed him plenty of time to put his footprint on the program.

Starting quarterback Matthew Wilkins suffered an ACL tear in the Tigers’ sectional championship game loss at Lapel last season. Surgery quickly followed which has allowed the senior quarterback to be fully ready for Friday’s scrimmage.

Wilkins will work behind a deep offensive line that gained invaluable experience last season.

The offensive key is who replaces the production of Braden Brown, who earned a walk-on role with Purdue football, and Zeke Robertson, who will play on Saturdays this fall at Wabash College.

Cooper Marlin and Landon Ball are atop the running back depth chart. Henry Kemper is the lone returning receiver with Friday night experience.

The Tigers open the 2026 season with back-to-back home games against non-conference opponents in Batesville (Aug. 21) and Indianapolis Scecina (Aug. 28).

State Coaches Poll

The Indiana Football Coaches Association’s State Coaches Pre-season Poll was released this week.

The No. 1 teams are Brownsburg (Class 6A), New Palestine (5A), East Central (4A), Andrean (3A), Brownstown Central (2A) and Riverton Parke (A).

The Class 4A top 10 includes East Central, Roncalli, Fort Wayne Dwenger, Chatard, East Noble, Mishawaka, Yorktown, Hobart, South Bend St. Joseph, Fort Wayne Luers and Heritage Hills.

Also receiving votes were Evansville Reitz, Jasper, Martinsville, Fort Wayne North Side, Leo, Columbia City, Lebanon and Northview.

Shelbyville is in Sectional 23 along with top-ranked East Central, Charlestown, Columbus East, Jennings County, Madison and Silver Creek.

The top of the Class 2A poll features several strong programs. Following Brownstown Central at No. 1 is Indianapolis Lutheran, Lapel, Cascade, South Putnam (the 2025 state champion at Class A), Linton Stockton, Eastern (Greentown), Providence, Knox, Eastside and Rochester.

Also receiving votes were Rensselaer Central, Southmont, Triton Central, North Posey, Eastern Hancock, Alexandria, Lewis Cass, Bremen and Monrovia.

Triton Central will open the postseason in Sectional 37. That eight-team field includes Lutheran, Eastern Hancock, Christel House, Covenant Christian, Indianapolis Ritter, Scecina and Park Tudor.

Waldron, Morristown

Waldron, the defending 8-man football state champions, will take part in a jamboree Saturday at Whiteland High School.

Waldron, Indiana Deaf, Morristown, Greenwood Christian, Wabash, Dugger Union, South Newton and the Tri-State Crusaders will take part in the season-opening event.

Waldron recently released its 2026 schedule that will start with a pair of road games.

The Mohawks are at South Newton on Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. They travel to sister school Morristown on Aug. 29 for a 5 p.m. contest.

Three straight home games follow with Dugger Union (Sept. 5 at 7 p.m.), Morristown (Sept. 12 at 7 p.m.) and Kosciusko (Sept. 19 at 7 p.m.).

Waldron travels to Fort Wayne on Sept. 26 to continue what has become the best rivalry in 8-man football, taking on the Tri-State Crusaders at 3 p.m.

Waldron returns home Oct. 3 to face Greenwood Christian at 7 p.m.

Following a bye week, the Mohawks close out the regular season hosting Indiana Deaf on Oct. 17 at 7 p.m.

Morristown opens its second season of playing 8-man football at the high school level with a pair of home games against Dugger Union (Aug. 22 at 5 p.m.) and Waldron (Aug. 29 at 5 p.m.)

Following a bye week, Morristown is at Waldron on Sept. 12 (7 p.m.) before hosting Indiana Deaf on Sept. 18 (6 p.m.) and Greenwood Christian on Sept. 26 (3 p.m.)

The Yellow Jackets close out their regular season schedule with road games at Dugger Union on Oct. 3 (6 p.m.) and in Ft. Wayne at the Tri-State Crusaders on Oct. 17 (3 p.m.).

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