High school football season is finally back, as practices started this past week around Dallas County.

I made my own “training camp tour” this week, traveling to all seven schools to get an early look at each team and I must admit, I’m excited.

I’d argue with anyone that there’s more talent in Dallas County on the gridiron than many realize, because the wins have not been there to open people’s eyes.

As a whole, the county has not had a statewide power in quite a while, and although I’m not expecting that to change that year, I can tell the framework is slowly being built at most local schools.

And it’s being built in completely different ways.

One of the things I love the most about football is that there are hundreds of ways to win. The teams in our county are a prime example of that.

Keith is the most consistent program in Dallas County, making the playoffs six consecutive seasons. Teams that play Keith know what they are going to face. The Bears, like they seemingly always have, are going to line up in the Wing-T and run it right at other teams. There’s not a lot of trickery to it — just smash mouth football. And it works.

We have all tried to make something too complicated before, and sometimes, in today’s football world of spread offenses, teams do just that. Keith, along with many other teams in our area, keep things simple.

Selma won seven games last season running an offense based on bruising rushers and a strong offense line. It worked so well that the Saints are set up to be playoff contenders again in 6A.

Under coach Marty Smith, Dallas County will ground it out and, if things go as planned, annoy high-paced teams that want the ball in their hands as much as possible. Morgan Academy is going to slow it down too, as the Senators move from Bob Taylor’s spread to Jake Wingo’s run-oriented attack.

Of course, the spread works too.

Southside will incorporate more spread into its offense than other teams, as the Panthers utilize their weapons on offense.

Ellwood Christian will spread teams out as well, trying to get their athletes into space as much as possible.

There are all kinds of ways to win football games, and every team in Dallas County takes a different approach.

It’s going to be fun to see what works when the season actually kicks off.