CAMBRIDGE — Sometimes, two teams opening up playing one another turns into a tradition of its own.

Such a tradition has been built between Indian Creek and Cambridge, as the teams have now met on opening night for a decade.

The latest in that series takes place Friday night in Cambridge as the Redskins and Bobcats are set to sqaure off once again.

“I think it’s been a great rivalry between the two of us,” Indian Creek head coach Andrew Connor said.

While the teams had two very different seasons a year ago — Indian Creek going 8-2 in the regular season and making the playoffs while the Bobcats went 0-10 — and the recent success in the series has belonged to Creek, winners of the last two meetings, Connor and company are not taking anything lightly and expect to see a much improved Cambridge team on Friday night.

A big reason why is head coach Kevin Gunn now has a full year back at the helm as he looks to rebuild the Bobcats in a second stint after also guiding them from 2012-2018. He took back over last season.

“Kevin Gunn is back as head coach, he came back last year after coaching there before,” Connor said. “The one thing you know you’re going to get from a Kevin Gunn football team is they’re going to be well-prepared, and they’re going to play hard, we saw that in their scrimmages. They’re well-prepared, and they play hard.”

To get ready for Friday night, Creek has had a long summer of hard work — and in the process impressed their own veteran coach, who’s been on the Creek sidelines for more than 20 years now.

“I think the kids have really worked hard, they understand that it’s a process, and I think we’ve been working towards trying to get better every day,” Connor said. “Our numbers are up. Our kids have worked really hard. I’m very proud of how hard they’ve worked in the summer, and I think they’re ready to get going now. It’s been a long summer, and I think the kids are just excited to have the opportunity on Friday night to show where we’re at as a program.”

While getting going on the road is a challenge, it’s one he feels his team is up for.

“We’ve been on the road all summer, really, in a way,” Connor said. “Our 7-on-7s since July started, our scrimmages, our team camp day we had, those were all trips. We’re used to bus trips. We’ve taken a lot of bus trips in the months of July and August. I think our kids are ready. I think they’re prepared.

“They know how to take a bus trip. It’s a familiar place, going to McFarland Field in Cambridge. A familiar opponent there, OVAC, Buckeye 8. I think our kids are just excited, chomping at the bit, to get out and start playing some football that’s meaningful now in the regular season.”

It’s no secret that the Redskins are in a tough region — Division III, Region 11 with Steubenville Big Red and defending state champ Columbus Bishop Watterson to name a couple of top teams — so while one week is not make-or-break in terms of the playoff goal, it’s important to hit the ground running.

“I think there’s no words for it. I think it’s very important for us to establish our identity, who we are,” Connor said. “I think it’s important for us to establish our physicality. To pick up where we left off last year with our season and kind of build on that. I think we took major strides with our offense and our defense. We like to see ourselves build off that, and we are a veteran football team. If you look at our roster, our starters, we have a lot of seniors and a lot of kids who’ve played a lot of games. It’s really important for us to use all of that to get off to a good start.

“One game doesn’t make or break a season, but practice will be a lot more fun next week if we’re 1-0.

“You joke about being 1-0 every week, but you can’t go undefeated if you don’t win your first one. If that’s one of your goals, then you’ve got to go 1-0 this week. It’s really important for us to get off to a good start, lay the foundations for what we hope is an ongoing process of us getting better each week.”