Blistering heat. High humidity. Doging rain and lightning storms. Must be Southwest Florida high school football season. Football remains the king of sports in Florida and it has made its regal return for 2026 as high school practices began July 27 and Week 0 of the season kicked off Aug. 14. Naples Daily News and The News-Press sports editor Ed Reed answered a few questions as local teams head back to the gridiron. Question: What are some of the biggest storylines in SW Florida you're watching as the season begins? Answer: Football season always brings plenty of surprised but here are some things we want to see play out. Fort Myers High will have a head coach without the last name of Sirianni for the first time in a half century as alum Joey Mendes takes over the Green Wave. What will that look like? St. John Neumann quarterback Carter Quinn missed last season as he was treated and recovered from leukemia. What will he be able to do this season? Riverdale made it to the the state semifinal last year. Can it or any other Lee County team match or surpass that accomplishment? If you had to describe the state of high school football in SW Florida right now, what would you say? A good amount of volatility. You are looking at a dozen new coaches and players bouncing from school to school as transfers. Dunbar's Sammy Brown is the dean of Southwest Florida football at 11 years. The only area coach to top a decade at one school. Etsero's Darren Nelson is No. 2 at 9 years. And keeping track of where players are popping up is a tricky job. It's hard to build programs and tradition with some much change. What qualities separate the best high school football programs in SW Florida from everyone else? Stability. The programs that can have their adminitration, coaching staffs and players on the same page rise above. some examples are Bishop Verot, Estero, and Riverdale.
What goes into covering dozens of teams across SW Florida every week? The hardest part is manpower. With only a couple of staffers and 20-plus games a week we have to decide where to be. We's love to be everywhere. we used to have a lot of freelamncers to help but that has dwindled down to about a handful. Your next question answers the why of that. What is one thing you wish more fans understood about covering high school football in SW Florida? High school football is the hardest sport to cover. NFL and college football are easy. You get to sit in a press box, people hand you stats and you get to watch replays on TV while sipping sodas in a air conditioned press box. Cover a high school game and your standing on a sideline sweating, shooting video, avoiding collisions with players, coahces and officials while tracking plays and stats because if you blink you missed it and there's no one to back you up. It's a lot of juggle but also envigorating. Mark H. Bickel is the Audience Development Director for The News-Press & Naples Daily News. Reach him by emailing mbickel@usatoday.com. This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: What We Do: Sports editor Ed Reed talks about covering high school football