In recent years, the storyline in Class 3, District 1 has been simple: Dexter and New Madrid County Central are going to battle for the district title, while Kennett and Perryville are going to battle for last place.

That was then, this is now. District 1 is wide-open this year. Here's a look at why:

• Parity. Only five SEMO Conference teams in Classes 2-5 have winning records, and three of them are in District 1. Thanks to an improved and diverse attack, Kennett (6-1) is off to its best start since 1999, while NMCC has rode the legs of Leslie Williams and Lennies McFerren III to a 5-1 start, Dexter (4-3) is right in the thick of it thanks to the emergence of the trio of Bobby Rawson, Nick Hessling and Ben Mills, and Perryville (3-4) has perhaps played the district's toughest schedule.

  All three SEMO teams -- Dexter, NMCC and Kennett -- have wins over Charleston, Caruthersville and Sikeston, while NMCC has also beaten Cape Central and Festus-St. Pius X, Dexter and Kennett have beaten Malden, and Kennett has also downed East Prairie and Portageville. Which leads us to...

• Strength of schedule, or lack of it. Just one team in District 1 -- Perryville -- has beaten a team with a winning record, and that was a Ste. Genevieve team that played most of the game without quarterback Kory Faulkner, the team's best player. The district's 18 wins have came against teams with a 15-61 record -- 10-59 if you don't count Ste. Genevieve.

  Most of that is because this is a down year for southeast Missouri high school football. Like I said, just five SEMO Conference teams in Classes 2-5 have winning records, and three of them are in this district.

• Standout players. Dexter is led by the trio of quarterback Ben Mills, wide receiver Bobby Rawson and running back Nick Hessling, while Kennett has its own trio in Blake Parr (QB), Demetrius Childress (RB) and Jarvis Finley (WR). NMCC has a strong duo of running backs in Bryan Waters and Lennies McFerren III, while Perryville has its own run-pass threat in QB Josh Perrault and a top-flight runner in Kris Cottner.

So who's going to win it? Good question.

NMCC is the defending district champion, Dexter and Perryville have played the toughest schedules, while Kennett has the best record of the four and has came on the last four weeks.

One potential barometer might be a look at some common opponents, in this case Charleston, Sikeston and Caruthersville. Dexter outscored the trio 103-13, while NMCC defeated the three 130-33 and Kennett outscored them 81-47. However, Kennett opened the season with Charleston and Caruthersville and has arguably played better since then.

Friday night will be telling. Kennett hosts NMCC, and aside from a 42-0 NMCC win last year, the series has been relatively close the last few years, with New Madrid winning three of five from 2001-2005.

On the other side, Dexter hosts Perryville, and the Bearcats have struggled at times against Perryville in recent years. The Pirates shocked Dexter to win the district title in 2004, while Dexter won just 6-0 in 2005 and led just 3-0 at the half last year before pulling away in the second half.

One thing is certain: it will be interesting....