There´s the lights, the teams and the collective groans and cheers of fans. It´s high school football in Texas, and it´s the stuff of books, movies, television shows and dreams.

Nearly two years after Lillian Lorraine Stiles was slain by six dogs while gardening in her front yard, a measure shepherded into law by her husband and daughter takes effect today and will hold dog owners criminally accountable if their pets kill or maim innocent people. In April, the Legislature redressed the mauling death of Mrs. Stiles and other dog–attack victims, such as Cheryl Marie Floyd, 17, of Houston, by enacting one of the nation´s toughest dangerous dog laws - named Lillian´s Law in memory of Mrs. Stiles.

Katie Bolka was just a final exam away from the start of her 2006 summer vacation. Stopped at a red light on her way to school, the 17-year-old Dallas junior and budding artist continued through the intersection when it turned green. Her car was the third through the light when another piloted by a 90-year-old driver slammed into Bolka´s door at about 45 mph. Badly injured, Bolka died a few days later.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday indicated that the central bank wants to avoid bailing out investors suffering from recent problems in financial markets, but that the Fed will take action if the U.S. economy as a whole seems to be suffering as a result of the turmoil. In the speech, Bernanke laid out his thinking on the troubled credit markets publicly for the first time. He addressed a group of economists and other close students of the Fed at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City´s annual symposium.

President Bush went to the Pentagon´s “Tank” on Friday to meet with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and hear their concerns about the burdens placed on the military by the current troop level in Iraq. The meeting inside the Joint Chiefs´ secure conference room was the latest part of a wide-ranging assessment of the situation in Iraq in advance the White House´s mid-September report on progress there and congressional testimony by Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Baghdad.

BELTON - A penalty to prolong an opponent´s drives. A fumble when trailing in the fourth quarter. And, of course, a key fluke injury. For the first 45 minutes of Friday night´s season opener against Boerne, the 2007 Belton Tigers looked the winless ´06 model.

WACO - The Temple Wildcats are eager to see how their newly installed Wing-T offense and a defense hungry to force turnovers perform against a real opponent in real conditions in a game that really counts. The big issue might be how they do those things against a fast, experienced South Garland team that features a safety committed to Oklahoma and a future quarterback at Baylor.

SALADO - All that the Salado Eagles really needed Friday night was some time and a little space. They needed time enough to begin wearing down the larger West Trojans and space enough for Seth Collins and his cohorts to make enough key plays to put the game away.

JARRELL - If there were any questions regarding how Crawford would fare without legendary coach Robert Murphy on the sideline, they were answered quickly. The Pirates scored on their first three possessions in the first quarter against Jarrell and made Delbert Kelm a winner in his head coaching debut as Crawford rolled to a 42-12 win Friday night at Cougar Field.

KILLEEN - Trailing 42-41 in the second overtime, Killeen Ellison elected to go for the two-point conversion and failed, giving the Killeen Kangaroos a thrilling season-opening victory over the Eagles on Friday night at Leo Buckley Stadium. Ellison quarterback Jaron Turner, playing in place on injured starter Ivan Delgado (dislocated elbow in non-throwing arm), kept the ball on the two-point attempt, started wide, cut inside and was stacked up short of the goal line by a Killeen defense headed by Anthony Shaw.

GATESVILLE - The Mexia Black Cats scored 13 fourth–quarter points to blow open a close game and seize a 20–7 win Friday night against Gatesville at McKamie Stadium, spoiling Kyle Cooper´s debut as the Hornets´ coach. With the score tied 7–7 in the fourth period, Mexia tailback Isaac Griffin scored almost untouched on a 24–yard run off left tackle to give the Black Cats their first lead of the game with 7:45 remaining.

COPPERAS COVE - The scary thing about Copperas Cove´s season-opening win over the San Angelo Central Bobcats was that it could have been a whole lot worse. Troy Vital ran for 145 yards and two touchdowns as the Bulldawgs rolled to a 33-0 win over the Bobcats on Friday night at Bulldawg Stadium.

Last year, Temple swept through its pool at the Tem-Cat Volleyball Classic but then bowed out with back-to-back losses to open bracket play. At this year´s version of the tournament, Temple stuck to the same script during Friday´s pool play, topping Burnet, Lorena and Amarillo Palo Duro to finish first in Pool 1. The Tem-Cats open bracket play against Pool 4 runner-up Pflugerville at 9:30 a.m. today at Wildcat Gym.

Belton 24, Boerne 23 Killeen 42, Killeen Ellison 41