The last Friday in August, which is good news for many football players from schools across the country. It means finally that the monotony of the long summer training is over - and it's time to play football.For first time since 1975, the iconic coach Aplington-Parkersburg Falcons not be there to lead his team in the area. Coach Ed Thomas was shot and killed in June. as the season opens in Parkersburg, the story is not just football. It is also about pain - and the decision to get up and move on. this inexplicable tragedy that left the city 1,800 people numb. And it happened that the residents have to dig a new tragedy: In May 2008 a devastating tornado hit Parkersburg and claimed eight lives.

Over a small American town, beginning the ritual of Friday night with the whole community, which is presented to the opener. Will undoubtedly be the case in Parkersburg, Iowa, where college football reigns supreme. But the first game Friday promises to be bittersweet.