Let the Games Begin: Hazelwood West Releases 2011 Football Schedules

With the first day of fall practice set for Aug. 8, and the first day of school slated for Aug. 15, began the official start of its 2011-2012 sporting year over the weekend by releasing its 2011 varsity, junior varsity and freshman football schedules.

The Wildcats, a program under new management with , have been practicing and training all summer in preparation for what figures to be an exciting new era of Hazelwood West football.

The West varsity and junior varsity teams will play 10 regular season games in 2011, while the freshman team has an eight-game schedule.

All three teams will play against the other seven Suburban North Conference teams—Hazelwood Central, Hazelwood East, McCluer, McCluer North, Pattonville, Ritenour and Riverview Gardens—along with a set of nonconference games to round out their schedules.

The season will begin officially on Saturday, Aug. 27 when the varsity Wildcats will host Belleville (IL) East High at Wildcat Stadium at 1 p.m.

That contest will mark the first of three straight nonconference games to open the season for West, which will also play Missouri powers Harrisonville High School, and Columbia-based Hickman High School.

The West JV team's first game will also be against Belleville East, but they’ll play that game on the road at Lancer Stadium on Aug. 29 at 4 p.m.  

The JV team will also play Hickman in the season's third week, but won’t play Harrisonville, which doesn’t have a junior varsity team, in the previous week.

Instead, the West JV team will play the Chaminade College Prep JV team at Chaminade on September 6.

The West freshman team’s first game will be on Sept. 1 when the Wildcats will host rival Hazelwood East High at 4 p.m.

Along with only playing eight games, as opposed to the varsity and JV's 10, another difference in the West freshman football schedule is that the ninth graders won't play Belleville East, Harrisonville or Hickman.

The West freshman team's nonconference game will be the final game of the season, when the Wildcats will host the SLUH freshman team at 4 p.m. on Oct. 20.

Other important dates during the 2011 season for the Hazelwood West varsity include:

• Sept. 17: Suburban North Conference opener vs. Hazelwood East
• Oct. 1: 2011 Homecoming vs. McCluer High
• Oct. 15: District playoff opener vs. Ritenour High
• Oct. 29: Regular season finale vs. defending league champ Hazelwood Central

2011 HAZELWOOD WEST VARSITY FOOTBALL SCHEDULE*