Week 1 is not a warm-up. Muskego-Waunakee is the state’s first honest game.

The WIAA said the earliest game is August 20. That is tomorrow. Practice started August 4. State is still Camp Randall in November. Everything in between is Friday nights that the rest of the country does not get.

The Desk’s Week 1 card is not subtle. Muskego, last year’s Classic 8 champion, hosts Waunakee, which lost a 19–17 state game to Arrowhead. That is a September game that someone scheduled in August because Wisconsin high school football does not ease in.

Arrowhead, the defending Division 1 champion after 18–15 over Bay Port at Camp Randall, opens at home against Marquette High. Notre Dame Academy goes to Neenah. West De Pere, 14–0 and the D2 champion, is at Sun Prairie East on Thursday. Darlington, 14–0 in D6, waits until Saturday at St. Mary’s Springs.

If you only watch the Badgers and the Packers, you will miss the loudest week of the year that does not involve a TV timeout. The statewide desk is covering it.