Ladies and gentleman, it is almost here!

Today is the first day of school in Lincoln County and that means that the start of the fall high school sports season is upon us.
The Lincoln County High School athletic program offers up a variety of sports for its student/athletes in the fall including football, soccer, cross country, volleyball and golf.

While the start of the cross country season is still a couple weeks away, the preseason is quickly winding down for the LCHS girls and boys soccer teams, girls and boys golf, volleyball and football, which get the 2017 season underway next week.

The Lincoln girls soccer team, led by first-year head coach Wendy Estes, will be the first LCHS sports team to get its season started, with the Lady Patriots playing host to Southwestern Monday at 6 p.m.

Two sports teams kick off their season on Tuesday.

The Lady Patriot golf team will open its season at General Burnside State Park in a match with Southwestern. New girls golf coach is former Lady Pat golfer Kayla Upchurch.

The boys soccer team also opens its season Tuesday. The soccer Patriots will be on the road for their opener as well, traveling to Irvine for a game with Estill County at 6 p.m. Lewis Cummins is the boys soccer coach.

Lincoln volleyball is the next team opening play on the first full week of school. The Lady Patriots, led by coach Sam Torres, will be on the road at Mercer County High School next Thursday, Aug. 17. Opening serve for the varsity game is approximately 7 p.m.

The football Patriots, led by coach Travis Leffew, have a week before their season gets started. As is tradition, Lincoln will open the season by hosting the Death Valley Bowl. The Patriots will play Clay County in this year’s Bowl game with the kickoff set for Friday, Aug. 18, at 6 p.m.

Boys golf coach Kevin Bandura is still working to finalize the Patriots schedule. Currently, the Patriots are set to open their season on Tuesday, Aug. 22.

The LCHS cross country teams will be the latest to begin competition, with Coach Jeffrey Manion scheduled to introduce his new cross country teams on Saturday, Aug. 26. The Lincoln teams will be participating in the Casey County Cross Country Festival, starting at 10:15 a.m.