With 17 games on the agenda, Section Nine has some fun match-ups on tap this weekend. The ones that count the most, however, are the three league games:

MARLBORO at HIGHLAND - We expect defending champ Highland with all its defense and experience to win this one over a potentially very good Duke squad in a Class B opener.

SAUGERTIES at PORT JERVIS - This Class A battle will be a tight one. Both teams have mucho new faces and a lot of potential. Port Jervis gets the slight edge here because of the you-know-what that neither team wants brought up.

PINES PLAINS at SPACKENKILL - The Spartans are poised to make a run for the Class C playoffs. Pine Plains will be improved but Spackenkill should win big.

Now for the non-league monster matchups:

MONROE-WOODBURY at BINGHAMTON - Both teams lost only once last year, and those losses were to the same team - state champ Orchard Park. Binghamton has graduated their four ‘08 all-state performers while the Crusaders should be even stronger than they were last season, especially with a healthy Dan Scalo. Monroe-Woodbury will overcome the officiating and beat the tough Patriots.

MINISINK VALLEY at NEWBURGH - Last year the Goldbacks gave the Warriors a headache they’ll never shake until MV gets its revenge. What a great Class AA matchup! D-1 NFA is the favorite with all that speed and all those playmakers, and I have a hunch that a couple of big Newburgh plays on either side of the ball will do in D-2 MV.

WARWICK at PINE BUSH - Another great game! AA-1 Pine Bush will run and pass … the AA-2 Wildcats will pass you to exhaustion. We’ll see who’s got the better defense. Look for the scoreboard to be lit up as Warwick manages to outgun (or tire out) tough Pine Bush.

WALLKILL at VALLEY CENTRAL - Wallkill of Class A gets a big test from an improved AA-1 Viking squad which could be a real powerhouse by next year if not sooner. Right now we’ll go with veteran Wallkill to win this big rivalry game which the Panthers won, 14-10, last year.

ITHACA at CORNWALL - The defending champ Dragons lost a ton of talent, but don’t fret. They are reloading. Expect Cornwall to defeat an improved Class AA Ithaca (which was 0-9 last year), but the Dragons may have to go airborne earlier than they had planned to loosen up the Little Red’s eight-man front.

In other interesting games we’ve seemingly got close ones in NEW PALTZ at ELLENVILLE and MIDDLETOWN at WASHINGTONVILLE. Tossing our lucky coin, we’ll go with Ellenville and Middletown over teams that should improve vastly as the season progresses.

Other Friday goodies include KINGSTON over FDR … SULLIVAN WEST over Deposit … HANCOCK over LMR … and O’NEILL over CHESTER.

On Saturday there’s more good stuff: GOSHEN over RED HOOK … BURKE CATHOLIC over MILLBROOK … ELDRED over TRI-VALLEY … and DELHI over LIBERTY.