Matchup: Kemper County (0-0) vs. Northeast Lauderdale (0-0)

Location: Northeast Lauderdale

Game time: 7 p.m. Friday

Northeast Lauderdale 

•On opening the season — “The kids are really excited about it,” head coach Curt Blackburn said. “It’s that time of the year everyone has anticipated. This is our first time playing (Kemper County) is about 15 years, so there’s a lot of excitement with us being so close to them.”

•On how he feels about his team in Week 1 — “I feel like we’re ahead of where we were at this point last year,” Blackburn said. “Obviously, it was really good to get them started out with a winning hand (beating Union 28-8 in the jamboree). I’m really excited. I feel like we can make a lot of things happen this year that we couldn’t last year. We return about 14 starters, so that experience should really pay off.”

•On Kemper County, which is coming off a 3A title but has a new coach this year and will start a lot of new players — “It’s an unknown,” Blackburn said. “We did swap film from the jamborees we played. They’re very big and athletic, and obviously, those kids know how to win. In practice, they were going against the best competition in 3A last year in practice, so they should be ready to go.”

Kemper County

•On Josh Pulphus’ first game as a head coach — “I’m very excited,” Pulphus said. “First of all, I’m thankful for the opportunity to go out here and put my stamp on something. Being a coordinator before, I’ve had those butterflies, but I’m just excited for the kids to do their best. You work your whole life for this opportunity, so when it presents itself, you have to be ready and put the same work in for it.”

•On how he feels going into the game — “We have a lot of players playing new positions,” Pulphus said. “We have some younger guys playing, and I’m very excited for them. Last week, I saw the ‘Oh my gosh, the season’s here,’ look on some of their faces, and I thought that was the most amusing thing in the world, but just for them to go out there and compete, it’s going to be big.”

•On Northeast Lauderdale — “I’m expecting to see a nice, physical, fast team,” Pulphus said. “They’re going to get after you for four quarters. They’re very eager and experienced. I’m not going to say they had some bad luck last year, but they went through some growing pains. To play in so many ball games as close as they did, their record last year (2-9), it doesn’t show the improvement they made each week. Going in, I’m expecting a very tough game. They’re bigger than us up front, so hopefully it will be a battle.”