For years I have watched other people pick the high school football games and I wondered just how they did it.

Some of them are pretty darn good at it.

So I thought to myself, why not give it a try and see if I am any good at it.

The worst thing that can happen is that I fail and people make fun of me.

But then again, I am a Football Forecaster so I have been getting made fun of for a couple of decades now.

I am going to stick to the games that we care about the most, so those games will come from Dowagiac, Niles, Edwardsburg, Brandywine and Cassopolis in no particular order.

I have to believe that the first week or so of the season will be tough because no one knows for sure what kind of team they are going to have.

As the weeks go by I hope to have a better grasp of who are the best teams around and my picks get better as time goes by.

So without further ado, let’s get this ball rolling.

Dowagiac at South Haven

The Chieftains are looking to improve on last year’s record, which happened to be 8-1 in the regular season.

Dowagiac’s lone loss came at the hands of Division 4 state runner-up Three Rivers.

I think the Chieftains could run the table in 2010 and earn their first Wolverine Conference title.

This is a tough opener for the Chieftains, but Dowagiac will prevail 28-14.

Niles at Coldwater

The Cardinals haven’t had a winning season since the mid-1980s and I don’t see that happening this year.

Coldwater is improved, but Niles has too and will play two-platoon football to open the season.

The Vikings roll big again this year against the Cardinals 28-7.

Bangor at Cassopolis

For the first time since 2002, Bernard Thomas is standing on the sidelines of a football field as a head coach.

The Rangers have made the playoffs the past four seasons and I don’t see that changing.

Thomas inherited a pretty good football team and Cass will showcase its new offense with a 28-14 victory over the Vikings.

Brandywine at Lawrence

The numbers are up and so is the optimism at Brandywine.

Mike Nate has a solid trio of players to build his team around if Jacob Frazier is healthy and able to play tonight.

Lawrence will provide a good measuring stick for the Bobcats, who will edge the Tigers in a close contest 12-6.

Well there you have it.

The remaining eight weeks of the regular season will appear on Thursday alongside the Football Forecaster’s selections, which begin next week.

I think our area teams are going to be successful this season and I am looking forward to covering them.

Scott Novak is sports editor of the Dowagiac Daily News. He can be reached at scott.novak@leaderpub.com