CHERRY TWP — Nothing like jumping right into the fire.

Clarion and Moniteau get together for a 7 p.m. kickoff Friday on the Warriors' turf for a critical Keystone-Shortway Athletic Conference game on opening night.

"Right now, I have to look at Clarion as the team to beat," Moniteau coach Jeff Campbell said. "They're always good to begin with and they're bringing back a ton of talent."

The same can be said for the Warriors. Running back James Shope is seeking his third consecutive 1,000-yard rushing season and Tony Campbell returns as Moniteau's first-ever 1,000-yard receiver.

Linebacker Jacob Boy had a school-record 22 quarterback sacks a season ago.

"They've got the veteran running back in Shope and that's an immediate concern," Clarion coach Larry Wiser said. "Most high school teams want to play ball control and he's a good kid to do that with.

"If our offense runs 75 percent of the plays, we're going to win this game. But Moniteau will make that very difficult to do."

The biggest difference between the teams may be at quarterback. The Bobcats return two QBs with starting experience: Dan Walters threw for 227 yards and three scores last year before tearing his ACL, Brandon Heeter threw for 613 yards and eight TDs as his replacement.

Walters won the starting job over Heeter during summer camp. Moniteau will start sophomore Kyle Armagost behind center this year.

"Zach Wheeler's looked so good at receiver that we want to keep him out there, though he will see some snaps at quarterback," Campbell said. "He could have a big year at receiver for us.

"Kyle's a heady kid and we haven't had to scale anything down for him. In fact, we've been putting a few new things in our package this week."

Wiser recognizes the skill level of Kyle Armagost, but said "I'm just glad I don't have to see his brother (graduated Tyler) anymore."

Moniteau posted a 26-20 victory at Clarion in last year's opener, paving the way to an undefeated regular season in KSAC play. The win was only the Warriors' second triumph over Clarion since 1995 and sixth in 36 years.

The loss was a rare season-opening defeat for Clarion.

"That was the first time we lost an opener in a lot of years," Wiser said. "At any level of football, you want to win that first one. Critics tend to bury you six feet under when you don't."

Last year's win means nothing to Campbell, just like the previous losses to the Bobcats didn't faze him.

"We don't even talk about what happened last year," he said. "This is a completely different team. In some ways we're better than last year's team. In some ways, we're not as good.

"We're faster, quicker and probably better all around than last year. But we're inexperienced along the offensive line."

The Warriors have three new starters up front in center Jordan Smith, right guard Mark Zanella and right tackle Mike George.

Clarion graduated powerful fullback Jon Kemmer, who rushed for 702 yards, but brings back strong two-way player Bubba Rue.

Rue had 187 carries for 809 yards a year ago. As a linebacker, he had 157 tackles, including 110 solos.

"They graduated a 235-pound fullback (Kemmer), but they bring back a 212-pound one who's just as good," Campbell said. "Clarion's power running game always concerns me."

Versatile running back Kevin Grejda rushed for 429 yards and caught 22 passes for 166 more last year. He generated 129 tackles — 89 solos — and 12 quarterback sacks from his defensive end position and he switched to linebacker this season.

"Walters is back at linebacker, too," Wiser said. "Our corps of linebackers anchors our defense."

Both teams are accustomed to winning. Clarion was 8-5 a year ago, scoring 352 points and allowing 163. Moniteau was 10-2 in 2008, scoring 434 points and giving up 161.

Wiser is in his 22nd season at Clarion and sports a 136-73-1 record there, a .650 winning percentage.