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RIPLEY -- Last season, Brooke opened its eason with a 28-7 win over Ripley which helped propel the young squad to a winning season.
This year, the Bruins make a long trek to open with the fame foe, hoping for a similar result.
"It's always great," Brooke head coach Mac McLean said of the week of the first game. "I talked to St. Clairsville's coach (his brother, Brett) and we were just talking about how exciting the first couple weeks are.
"I'm an anxous mess, but if you don't get anxious about this stuff, why in the heck would you do it? If it doesn't toot your horn, or raise your eyebrows a little bit, why are you doing it?
"We're excited, the staff is excited, the kids are excited."
The trip down there, which takes about two hours and 35 minutes, is one challenge for the Bruins.
"There are some hurdles we've got to deal with and the first one is the long bus ride," McLean said. "We can't afford to have bus legs, we've got to get off the bus and get rolling.
"With it being the first week of school, maybe the kids will be a tired. We have to get through that."
Another hurdle, amd perhaps the most challenging, is the opponent.
"We have to deal with a young Ripley team that is running a very complex offense with a lot of fakes," McLean said. "From watching them on film, they're getting better at it and when they figure it out, they're going to be a handful with misdirection and fakes.
"We're going to have to be ready on defense, stick our assingments and stay awake in the secondary."
Overall, the Bruins are excited for a chance to build on a 5-4 campaign a season ago and potentially make a run for a playoff spot.
"The kids want to build on what they did last year," McLean said. "I think we feel like we're a capable football team and I think we feel like we're a football team that has a couple scores to settle on our schedule.
"That's what we're going to try to do on Friday night is take that first step towards that."