Friday night football quick thoughts:

Steve Falk here to talk about high school football. This will be the homeplace for high school football until our new web site is launched in October.
Here are some quick impressions from the opening night of the season:
Southern Regional's 6-0 win over Jackson Memorial was the most noteworthy result from Friday night.
This is the type of the game the Rams would usually lose in the past. Not surprised they could play Jackson Memorial tough because they played the Jaguars tough in recent years, losing by a combined 13 points the past three years, including a last-minute 10-9 defeat to an unbeaten Jackson Memorial team two years ago.
The trick for Southern now is to build on this result. It has the defense to contend with anybody in the American Division, and has for several years. Consistency on offense has always been an issue with the Rams.
As for Jackson Memorial, just wondering if the opening of Jackson Liberty has started to drain some of the talent, and if the loss of outstanding assistant coaches, Scott Goodale, now the head wrestling coach at Rutgers University, and Mike Walsh, now the athletic director at Jackson Liberty, has also had an effect.
I'm sure one of the happiest people at Southern's Goldberger Memorial Field last night was Rams' junior linebacker-fullback, Glenn Carson. The state wrestling runner-up at 215 pounds last year, Carson had not been on a Southern team that had ever defeated Jackson Memorial. The Rams' wrestling team had gone 0-6 against the Jaguars the last two seasons, including losses in consective NJSIAA Group IV championship matches.
St. John Vianney's 27-9 win over Raritan was also noteworthy, especially the performance of Lancers' freshman Charles Davis.
It appears Davis, whose father played for Lancers' head coach John Amabile, when he was the head coach at Neptune, in the late 1980's and early 1990's, has taken over the role last year's Asbury Park Press All-Shore first team selection Chris Lewnes occupied. Davis, like Lewnes at times last year, lined up at several different positions Friday night, including quarterback and wide receiver. It does not get much better than scoring on your first two touches of the ball of your high school career from two different positions.
Took in Middletown South's 23-7 win over Neptune. The Eagles strugged through most of the first half, as they had done through entire scrimmages against Jackson Memorial and Brick Memorial. However, they looked like a No. 1 team in the Shore in the second half, when they scored on their first three possession in impressive fashion and shut Neptune down completely on its first three possessions.
No question, Middletown South, which has some inexperience on the offensive line, will get better week-by-week.
Neptune has the speed and talent at running back and receiver to win its share of games.
Jackson Liberty, which was defeated, 43-0, by Bridgeton in its first-ever varsity game, will likely not face a team with the talent of Bridgeton the remainder of the season.
The Lions will do grow from this experience, and will defeat Wildwood, a Group I school that has usually struggled, this week.
Lacey showed it is going to pick up right where it left off last year with its impressive win over Manalapan. Everybody knew Tom Rickmers was talented last year, when he was the starting fullback in front of Asbury Park Press All-Shore first team selection Chris DiMicco last year. Look for Rickmers to easily surpass 1,000 yards.
Also, nice win for Lakewood at Pinelands as it spoiled Wildcats' first-ever night game, like Pinelands did to the Piners last year.
The Federal Division appears to be three-tiered division, with Middletown South in its own tier, Ocean and Neptune in the next tier, and Freehold Lakewood, Central and Pinelands in the next tier. There are winnable games for those teams in the third tier. A team that sweeps the games in the third tier puts itself in position to have a chance at a .500 season.