Hampshire County football teams start their first full week of games on Friday, with five teams in action.

The Daily Hampshire Gazette calculated the strength of schedule for each Hampshire County football team this fall. Strength of schedule numbers below were determined by calculating the combined records of a given team’s opponents last year, without factoring in divisions. Those numbers will certainly change over the course of this season, but it’s a starting point to consider where teams are hoping to be come the end of the fall.

The MIAA’s power rating formula used to seed teams for the postseason factors in win/loss record, margin of victory and strength of schedule.

In the regular season, each team plays all five teams in its league once, in addition to three more games. Those non-league games can include crossover opponents from other leagues in western Mass. or independent games against teams outside of western Mass. After the regular season, teams are scheduled for two additional games, whether they advance to the playoffs or not, in addition to the squads that compete in an annual Thanksgiving Day game.

Amherst

2023 record: 8-2

2024 strength of schedule: .552

Though the Hurricanes went 6-2 in the regular season last year, only five teams in Division IV had a lower opponent rating, and Amherst ranked 26th in the MIAA’s final power rankings, 10 spots outside of a playoff berth.

The ‘Canes added matchups against Division III semifinalist Westfield and Division II semifinalist Barnstable this year to beef up their schedule and boost their opponent rating.

“We’ve got to step up to the occasion,” head coach Vinnie Guiel said. “We can’t be afraid, we can’t come into those games expecting to lose. I think we can compete and beat both of those teams, so it’ll be exciting.”

Amherst’s penultimate game is a rematch with West Springfield, which won the matchup last season and qualified for the Division III state playoffs as the No. 8 seed.

Belchertown

2023 record: 8-3

Playoff finish: Division V Round of 16, No. 14 Belchertown lost to No. 3 Shawsheen Valley Tech

2024 strength of schedule: .437

The Orioles rocketed to a 7-1 regular season last year, buoyed by the production of a strong senior class, and advanced to the state playoffs for the first time under the new format.

They face the second-easiest schedule this year of all teams in Hampshire County, with two of their first three matchups in 2024 coming against Northampton and Ludlow teams that won one game each last year. On Oct. 5 in Week 4, they’ll take on Hoosac Valley, which rode a 10-0 start all the way to the Div. 8 semifinals.

Easthampton

2023 record: 5-6

2024 strength of schedule: .575

Only Northampton has a tougher slate this fall. The Eagles start their season against a Ware team that went a perfect 8-0 in the regular season last year before losing as the No. 5 seed in the Div. 8 Round of 16. Ware shut out Easthampton 20-0 in last season’s opener.

The Eagles get some respite with mid-season matchups against Palmer and Lee, but they’ll have to play Belchertown and Hoosac Valley in the second half of the season.

Frontier

2023 record: 5-5

2024 strength of schedule: .513

Frontier sits at 0-1 so far this fall and has matchups against three teams who qualified for the state playoffs last year – Franklin Tech, Hoosac Valley and Belchertown. On the flip side, they play Greenfield and Commerce, which combined for just a handful of wins last year.

Holyoke

2023 record: 2-8

2024 strength of schedule: .567

The Purple Knights enter another season in the top league in western Mass., the AA Conference. After five weeks of competition against teams that finished around .500 in 2023, they finish their year with a matchup against Chicopee Comp – one of their two wins last year – followed by games against powerhouses Central and Westfield.

Northampton

2023 record: 1-8

2024 strength of schedule: .597

The Blue Devils face the toughest schedule in Hampshire County following a season where their lone win came on Thanksgiving against Easthampton. They play a trio of teams who won eight games last season – Div. 5 Belchertown, Div. 4 Amherst and Div. 3 West Springfield. They also face Wahconah, which qualified for the Div. 7 state playoffs. After opening the season against Belchertown, they’ll play Taconic, Mahar and East Longmeadow.

Smith Voc

2023 record: 7-5

2024 strength of schedule: .439

The Vikings won a program-best seven games last season and play one of the easier slates in Hampshire County this fall. After opening against Nashoba Valley Tech, they play a string of three straight games against teams who were under .500 last year (Ludlow, McCann and Drury) followed by a matchup with a Springfield International team in just its third year as a varsity program. Their toughest matchup may be their last, a duel with 2023 state playoff qualifier Franklin Tech on Thanksgiving.

South Hadley

2023 record: 8-2

Playoff finish: Div. 7 Round of 16, No. 14 South Hadley lost to No. 3 West Bridgewater 39-8

2024 strength of schedule: .318

The Tigers play the easiest schedule in Hampshire County by far this fall after a state playoff appearance last year. Their toughest games will be against Berkshire teams Wahconah and Pittsfield in the first half of the season. Last year, Wahconah knocked them off 26-14 in the opener and they edged Pittsfield, 16-12.

They’ll play a handful of games against teams that finished well under .500 last year, including Greenfield, Chicopee Comp, Ludlow, Putnam and Chicopee.