Read the Post.

But there are 300 more schools out there. How do you find out about them?

Read Arnold Solomon.

Solomon, a South Rowan graduate who lives in Kannapolis (the Rowan side, mind you), has done it again.

For the ninth consecutive year, he has put out the most comprehensive high school football magazine in the state. The only one to be exact. He does it for one simple reason. He loves this game.

The book is truly amazing. I sat down and went over all 116 pages. Here are some tidbits to remember from around the state:

• Albemarle coach Jack Gaster is back. Last year, he suffered a heart attack and missed the 10-3 season. This year, the Bulldogs have practically everyone back so it should be a happy “welcome back” party for Gaster.
• High Point Andrews coach Dave Mizell, a former elementary school classmate of mine, by the way, is the son of Vinegar Bend.
• Solomon says Anson County’s Cedric Holt has “great hips” whatever that means.
• Avery County, a 2A school in Newland, has a guy, Michael Ferguson, who averaged 15.8 tackles per game last season.
• Favorite nicknames: Cary Imps, Clinton Dark Horses, Swain County Maroon Devils, Washington Pam Pack,
• Favorite coaches’ names: Hendersonville’s B.J. Laughter, Vance’s Gary Finger,
• Favorite school names: Mattamuskeet, Perquimans,
• Favorite player names: North Davidson’s Bubba Rosenbaum,
• Chatham County, a 1A school in Bear Creek (don’t try to find it, you can’t do it) returns to football after a two-year hiatus.
• Clinton is an eastern powerhouse. How much of a powerhouse? The Dark Horses are 26-2 over the past two seasons. They have only five returning starters and Solomon still picks them to win the East Central 2A Conference.
• Former Catawba College assistant Tom Harper has moved from Morganton Freedom to East Burke. He is replaced at Freedom by another former Catawba assistant Tim McMahon.
• There is actually a school called Croatan, which is starting its second season of football in (gulp) Clinton’s conference.
• There are 18 schools starting with East and four more starting with Eastern.
• There are 19 schools beginning with North, two Northamptons, one Northeast, one Northeastern, three Northerns, one Northside, one Northwood and three Northwests.
• Fifteen schools start with South. There are three Southeasts, six Southerns, one Southside and four Southwests.
• Seventeen schools start with West. There are three Westerns and one Westover.
• East Wilkes returns the state’s passing leader in Luke Samples (3,420 yards and 30 touchdowns).
• Raleigh Enloe should have one of the state’s best basketball teams this year, with the highly-recruited transfers coming in. Not so in football. The 4A school went 0-11 last year.
• There’s a new school in Wake County called Greenhope. It’s in the Tri-Seven Conference. Does that mean it’s now the Tri-Eight?
• Hobbton, a 1A school down east, has Michael Thornton, who stands 6-foot-9, 332 pounds. Hobbton is the home of former Wake Forest hoops star Chris King.
  
  Charlotte Independence will have a 14-year old at quarterback: freshman Chris Leak, C.J.’s brother. And get this. He has already been offered a scholarship by Wake Forest.

• Amazing tidbit: Mooresville was 11-1 last season and never ranked in the 3A poll.
• Former North Rowan graduate Charles Love is entering his 25th year as the North Iredell head coach. He is the one who molded Livingstone’s 1,000-yard rusher Carl Jones.
• Richmond County, who Solomon calls Richmond College, is ranked 11th in the nation by USA Today.
• Scotland High, which hosts North Rowan Friday, has five important cogs whose names start with “Mc.” Solomon writes, “I don’t know what that has to do with football, but I found it very interesting.”
• Why would Bob Sapp leave a 4A power at Mount Tabor for a 3-8 2A team at South Brunswick? Because he loves to fish in Southport, that’s why.
• South Rowan used to count on a win against South Stokes. Not anymore. With West Stokes opening, South Stokes has moved down to 2A.
• Southern Durham has a new head coach: former legend at Garner High and N.C. State Anthony Barbour. After Southern’s 1-10 season in 1998, perhaps Barbour should suit up.
• Another first-year school is 1A Southside, a combination of Aurora and Chocowinity (formerly one of my favorite school names).
• Surry Central; quarterback Jeremy Simmons is a major college recruit on the field (2,000 yards passing)and in the classroom (1330 SAT).
• One of my best friends Steve Cloer (remember him East Rowan fans? He hit the winning shot for North Davidson to beat the Mustangs for the WNCHSAAhoops title back in 1975) lives in Swain County and he and his neighbors are down. Swain was 3-7 last year, the first losing season since 1982 and the first time it has missed the playoffs since 1985.
• The rich get richer. At Thomasville, Nick Brown is ready to improve on his 1,343-yard rushing season. Think he has the genes? He is the nephew of former N.C. State and Minnesota Viking Ted Brown.
• Charlotte Vance is off to a great start. the Cougars are the first team in NCHSAAhistory to win their first playoff game in only their second year of existence.
• Nearby West Davidson has a basketball team playing football. There are Green Dragons standing 6-foot-7, 6-foot-7, 6-foot-3. The quarterback Zack Snyder is 6-7.
• Another new school is West Stokes, which will be a 3A team in the Tri-County Conference.

For the record, Solomon picks Richmond County (4A), Winston-Salem Carver (3A), Shelby (2A) and Thomasville (1A) as the preseason favorites.

Is Solomon right? Probably. He also picks power ratings and it is unbelievable how close he is to predicting games.

And with that, I’ll leave you with a quote by North Rowan’s Roger Secreast, who said recently he didn’t always agree with Solomon but did agree that his fearless forecasts were almost always right.

If Solomon could pick the horses that effectively, Secreast joked, he’d take him to the track on a regular basis.

Football season is here, people. We’ll be there. Arnold Solomon will be there.

Will you?