And so for many begins the final week of summer vacation as next week will find school’s opening and the daily routine becomes very different.

As older kids are headed off to college many parents will this week be doing last-minute school shopping for the younger ones buying everything from clothes to notebooks in advance of the first day which for most is next Tuesday. Of course there is still time this week to head to the beach and get in those final days before carrying a boogey board is replaced by a backpack filled with books.

As the next four months are my busiest time of year I took some time off late last week and enjoyed what were some of the nicest beach days of the entire summer.
Those will be all but a distant memory soon as we get ready for the football season which kicks off this coming weekend. There are actually a pair of high school games on Friday night in what is called “week zero” as Southern hosts Central and Ocean entertains Monmouth Regional.

Then on Saturday Monmouth University opens its season with a visit to Lehigh while Rutgers travels to nationally-ranked Washington. The NFL season kicks off the following week which is when the high school schedule gets into full swing in the shore area for not only football but all the fall sports.

The Lakewood BlueClaws continue to close in on their first playoff appearance since 2010. They have a three game lead over Hagerstown with just seven games left to play in the South Atlantic League’s second-half Northern Division standings. The BlueClaws would open the playoffs against the Suns (winners of the first half) next Wednesday at FirstEnergy Park in a best-of-3 matchup. Tickets for the playoffs are on sale at blueclaws.com

By the way the long-range forecast looks like we might have a nice Labor Day weekend to squeeze in a couple more beach days!

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