The Ariton Purple Cats will get an early taste of the regular season when they officially kick off the season on Friday night when they travel to take on Dale County in the season opener.

While most teams will be playing in an exhibition on Friday night, the Purple Cats will have an opportunity to put their first win on the board.

“I like it,” said Ariton head coach Steven Kilcrease. “The kids earlier in the year start going through practice. You start getting into that second week you start seeing it (fatigue). They are excited to get to a game week where they can turn their attention to an opponent. I like playing in week zero.”

Excitement always ramps up this time year for the start of football season and the Purple Cats are ready to go out and hit somebody other than themselves.

“Just like everybody else they are tired of hitting on each other,” Kilcrease said. “They are excited about seeing somebody else.”

Although these two teams opened the season last season, with it being the season opener this year, Kilcrease isn’t sure what to expect out of the Warriors.

“It’s a little difficult for the first game because you don’t know,” Kilcrease said. “We have spring film, but they could do something completely different. There are so many unknowns this time of year. We are going to have to prepare for everything. We worked on a lot of different looks. We just want to get a routine and it has worked pretty well for us in the past.”

The two teams opened up last season with the Warriors pulling out a 41-19. Although there are a lot of unknowns, Kilcrease does expect another tough Warrior team this season.

“They are going to be really athletic,” Kilcrease said. “They have a lot guys back, especially in the secondary. I expect it to be a physical ballgame.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Warrior Stadium in Midland City.