PORT ANGELES —The promise of the start of a new high school football season and the chance to create a fresh slate of memories is always special, whether you are a player, coach, family member, friend or simply a fan.
Those opportunities begin in earnest tonight in cities and towns across the North Olympic Peninsula and in hundreds more locales around the state.
Friday night lights have returned, and there’s much that is new on the area gridiron landscape.
Three new head coaches — Forks’ Emil West, Port Townsend’s Alex Heilig and Quilcene’s Trey Beathard — will coach their first game in charge of their respective programs tonight or Saturday.
West, an assistant last season, will lead his Spartans out for the first-ever contest on the recently installed FieldTurf at Spartans Stadium.
Heilig, officially hired last month, and his Redhawks will host Sequim, headed up by Erik Wiker, the longest-tenured head coach on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Wiker is entering his 13th season as head of the Wolves’ pack.
Beathard, who served as an assistant for the Rangers during the past two seasons under head coach Byron Wilson, has swapped roles with the retired Wilson for 2016.
Clarity comes to Civic Field and the Port Angeles Roughriders in the form of a recently installed $562,000 (much of it grant-funded) LED lighting system.
The lights should have less glare, city project manager Tim Amiot said earlier this year.
“The color of light on the field will be brighter and whiter, not blue-green,” he added.
“It’s much closer to daylight.”
Port Angeles will operate from a new offensive system, the pistol, in hopes of bettering last year’s output.
So too, will Forks, which is getting back to a more traditional two-back running-focused attack after a season-long experiment with the spread.
Port Townsend and Chimacum will have some new opponents as they return to the Nisqually League after two seasons spent playing two league games apiece against each other and Klahowya and Coupeville.
Here’s a look at the week one action (all games start at 7 p.m., unless otherwise listed):
Game of the Week Sequim at Port Townsend
PORT TOWNSEND — A traditional Peninsula rivalry is rekindled tonight after nearly a decade-long hiatus when the Wolves visit the Redhawks.
Port Townsend is coming off one of the best seasons in school history after finishing 10-1 last year and advancing to the state football playoffs for the first time since 2004.
Many of the primary playmakers from the Redhawks’ postseason push graduated, and the team is adopting a new offensive system under new coach Alex Heilig.
Despite the changes, expect junior Detrius Kelsall to provide much of the Port Townsend production on both sides of the ball.
Sequim went 5-3 last season, and also lost vital contributors to graduation.
But the Wolves return sophomore quarterback Riley Cowan, a first-team all-Olympic League selection at the position, as well as playmaker Gavin Velarde, a first-team pick at wide receiver and kick returner in 2015.
Port Townsend owns the edge in the head-to-head matchup all-time, 44-39, with five ties, but Sequim has won the past six matchups, including a 49-14 shellacking in 2007.
Prediction: Sequim 20, Port Townsend 14
Chimacum at Neah Bay, 5 p.m.
NEAH BAY — The Red Devils and Cowboys meet in an 11-man game tonight. Neah Bay hs the most returning talent at the skill positions of any team on the North Olympic Peninsula in running back Cole Svec, quarterback Rwehabura Munyagi Jr and wide receiver Cameron Buzzell.
Chimacum snapped its 18-game losing streak last season and won two of its final four contests last season with a senior-laden squad. A young team of mainly sophomores and freshmen will have a difficult time keeping up with the Red Devils
Prediction: Neah Bay 56, Chimacum 14
Mount Tahoma at Port Angeles
PORT ANGELES — The Riders step up a classification to take on the 3A Thunderbirds. Mount Tahoma went 2-8 last season as a Class 4A team.
Prediction: Mount Tahoma 27, Port Angeles 13
Vashon at Forks
FORKS — The Spartans must stop the state’s all-time 11-man single-season and single-game rushing leader in the Pirates’ Bryce Hoisington.
In Vashon’s season finale against Coupeville, Hoisington rolled to 573 yards and nine touchdowns on 51 carries to set the state record for most yards in an 11-man football game. He finished the season with 2,929 yards, also a state 11-man record.
But the Pirates’ new coach Clay Eastly told the Tacoma News Tribune Hoisington will see less carries in a new spread offense.
Either way, Forks will need to rally to the ball when Hoisington does get the ball to get some revenge for last year’s 12-7 season-opening loss to the Pirates.
Prediction: Forks 20, Vashon 19
Saturday’s Games Mary M. Knight at Quilcene, 1 p.m.
QUILCENE — The Rangers will utilize the quarterback duo of Juan Rogers and Andy Johnston along with running back Acea Such in a bid to replace the production of graduated Eli Harrison and A.J. Prater.
Prediction: Quilcene 26, Mary M. Knight 14
Crescent at Tacoma Baptist
UNIVERSITY PLACE — The Loggers open against a team transitioning to the eight-man game in the Crusaders.
Prediction: Tacoma Baptist 34, Crescent 28
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
