TORONTO — The Toronto football team is looking to win its fifth-straight opening game Friday night at former EOAC rival Southern Local comes to town for a 7 p.m. kickoff inside Clarke Hinkle Field.

“Things are moving along well,” Toronto head coach Jaret Aubiel said. “We played better in our second scrimmage. We just have to keep getting better every day.”

Toronto shut out East Canton, 41-0, in last season’s season opener on the road as the Red Knights ended up going 8-4 in Aubiel’s first season as head coach of the team.

This season, the color scheme may be the same, but the opponent is different as the Red Knights welcome the Indians back to town. Southern Local last made the trip down in Week 4 of the 2017 season. The boys from the Gem City came out on top, 44-41, in that meeting.

The visitors from Columbiana County got some revenge the next season as the Indians rolled to a 43-14 victory against the Red Knights. The game was the last one between the two schools heading into Friday night.

Both teams are coming off of playoff appearances last season, however, Southern is dealing with some uncertainty going into the new campaign.

Rich Wright, who was the head coach of the Indians for 10 years, resigned in July, and Zack Almy was named as the team’s head coach. Wright’s resignation was announced July 11. Wright guided the Indians to a 6-5 mark last season. Counting his time at Wellsville and Beaver Local, Wright has a career coaching record of 167-110 in 26 season as a head coach.

Almy has made the jump from assistant coach to head coach at Southern.

As a result of the coaching change, the boys from the Salt City may look a little different this season on both sides of the ball.

“They may pass the ball more this year than last year,” Aubiel said. “We have to be ready for everything.”

Southern does return senior running back Landen Heffner, who rushed for 1,290 yards on 186 carries last season for an average of 6.9 yards a carry.

“They have good ability in their running game, and they can pass the ball,” Aubiel said. “We are looking forward to the challenge.”

The Indians return 16 lettermen from last season with five starters returning on offense and six on defense.

“Defensively, they run a 4-2-5 or a 4-4,” Aubiel said. “They like to mix up their coverages. We are going to see what we can do Friday. We definitely are going to have to execute.”

Southern has made the playoffs for seven-straight seasons, so Toronto expects a hard-fought battle come Friday night.

“We can’t make mistakes, and we have to execute our gameplan,” Aubiel said. “Southern is a tough team. They have been a tough team for years. We are looking forward to the challenge.”

The Red Knights are looking forward to playing in front of their home fans for the first time in 2025.

“Everyone is excited,” Aubiel said. “We get to play in front of our home crowd. Our two scrimmages were away. We want to feed off the crowd. If we do that, we will be successful Friday night.”