JEFFERSON TWP — First-year Knoch football coach Tim Burchett has a definite description of his life the past few days.

“A lot of sleepless nights,” he said.

After a few years as an assistant coach at perennial WPIAL contender Peters Township, Burchett makes his head coaching debut at 7 p.m. Friday when the Knights open the season at Hampton.

While the Talbots are coming off a school-record 11-win season, they have a new head coach as well. Former Deer Lakes head coach Steve Sciullo, an assistant at Hampton the last few seasons, takes over for Jacque DeMatteo. The latter resigned after 14 seasons on the job.

“Coach Sciullo will put his own spin on the program, just like I’m doing here, but Hampton is a very strong 4A program that runs the football extremely well,” Burchett said. “This is a tough match-up, but it’s not one we’re shying away from.

“You go in to win every game. I was with Trinity when we were a 15-seed and we upset No. 2 seed Penn Hills in the playoffs. It happens. You line up and play football.”

Knoch scrimmaged Keystone Oaks last weekend and “it was a typical scrimmage,” Burchett said. “Some good, some bad.”

He said Codi Mullen stood out at safety and Kaden Spencer has been shining as a wide receiver and linebacker. Both are sophomores. Burchett said Spencer has become a “jack of all trades.”

The coach added the Knights’ strengths entering the opener are the offensive and defensive lines, along with wide receiver.

“We are going to play with physicality,” Burchett said. “Our receivers haven’t had to do much the last couple of years except block, now they’re being called on to do all sorts of things. They’ve been responding well.”

Hampton averaged 308 yards per game on the ground last season, scoring 46 touchdowns that way. The Talbots’ entire offensive line graduated, however. Joey Mayer, a senior, steps in as starting quarterback after throwing for 226 yards and rushing for 451 in a back-up role last season.

Brock Borgo rushed for 1,085 yards and 17 touchdowns as a sophomore last year. He is the Talbots’ top running back in 2022. Benny Haselrig led the team with 16 catches and is the prime target in the receiving corps.

Hampton shut out Knoch in the teams’ two most recent meetings, 49-0 in 2020 and 30-0 last year. The Talbots lead the all-time series between the teams, 26-25-1.

North Catholic at Serra Catholic

7 p.m., Friday

This game features two teams that played for a WPIAL championship last November. While North fell to Central Valley in the Class 3A title game, Serra defeated Beaver Falls for the 2A crown before falling to Southern Columbia in the state final.

North is now a Class 4A team, the Trojans’ fourth different classification in eight seasons. ... They will feature junior Jason Siket at QB. Siket threw for 234 yards and 5 TDs in a win over Valley last year while playing for the injured Joey Prentice.

Serra graduated many stalwarts from last year’s title run, including the team’s top passer, rusher and receiver.

Karns City at DuBois Area

7 p.m., Friday

KC is out to defend its District 9 Class 2A championship from a year ago. DuBois is coming off a 5-6 campaign in which the Beavers lost to University Prep from Pittsburgh’s City League in a Class 4A subregional playoff.

In last year’s meeting, KC gashed the DuBois defense for 312 rushing yards and 5 TDs in a 35-14 victory, though 246 of those yards and 4 scores were lost with the graduations of Jayce Anderson and Luke Garing. ... QB Eric Booher is back for the Gremlins as a dual-threat and WRs Nate Garing and Micah Rupp are downfield threats.

The Beavers return senior QB Cam-Ron Hays, who passed for 786 yards, rushed for 235 and accounted for 10 total TDs between rushing and passing in 2021.

Cameron County

at Union/A-C Valley

(Rimersburg)

7 p.m., Friday

The teams met twice last year, with the Falcon Knights prevailing 20-6 in the regular season and 31-6 in a District 9 Class 1A quarterfinal playoff. Union/ACV went on to finish runner-up to Redbank Valley.

Cameron junior QB Maddox Baughman looks to improve on a sophomore season that included 904 yards passing and 9 TDs, but also 15 INTs.

The Falcon Knights will again rely heavily on RBs Mikey Card and Dawson Camper. The duo produced a combined 1,529 rushing yards and 20 TDs last season. ... Senior safety Skyler Roxbury is coming off an 8-interception season.

Due to poor conditions at A-C Valley’s football field in Foxburg, the Falcon Knights will play all of their home games this season at Union’s Vidunas Stadium.

Indiana at Freeport

7 p.m., Friday

This non-conference matchup will be the first meeting between these two WPIAL programs. Freeport, which plays in the Class 3A Allegheny Six Conference, made it to the quarterfinal round of the playoffs last fall and returns a number of key pieces.

Seniors Zach Clark and Ben Lane will join new starting QB Gavin Croney in the backfield. The rushing tandem combined for 136 carries, 803 yards, and 13 TDs on the ground a year ago.

Part of the Class 4A Greater Allegheny Conference, Indiana also made the postseason in 2021. They were dispatched rather quickly, bowing to Thomas Jefferson, 41-0. The Little Indians pounded the football last year, throwing only 42 passes the entire campaign.

Moniteau at St. Marys

7 p.m., Friday

The Warriors had three different players run for at least 400 yards last season. All three — senior Hunter Stalker and Matt Martino and junior David Dessicino — are back. Moniteau, which went 1-8 a year ago, will hope that the experience leads to more success this time around.

St. Marys had a much better showing, reeling off an eight-game winning streak after losing their opener to Ridgway/Johnsonburg. The Flying Dutchmen bring back junior Matt Davis, who scampered for a team-high 409 yards last go-round. Four different returning senior receivers — including Logan Mosier and Carter Chadsey — went for at least 400 yards last year.

Summit Academy at New Castle

7 p.m., Friday

There will be a noticeable numbers disparity on the sidelines for this clash between a Class 1A team (Summit Academy) and a Class 4A crew (New Castle).

The latter failed to come out with a win in 2021, going 0-10 and losing each game by at least two scores. That included a 48-4 defeat to the Red Hurricane, which made the quarterfinal round of the playoffs.