It's like kicking off the football season in the dark.

That's what Karns City and host Cambridge Springs will encounter when they meet for a non-conference matchup at 7 p.m. Friday.

Other than what they've seen on tape, neither team knows what to expect.

"I guess it's like a playoff game," said Karns City coach Ed Conto. "You don't know much about the team, but there's a lot of press about the team and players."

"This should be a good test," said Cambridge Springs coach Walt Nottingham, who has been coaching at the school for 30 years, the past 22 as the head coach.

"Our league's all broken up this year. We're in a Class A league. They broke us into North and South, so there's a lot of teams we don't know."

Nottingham does see some of his team in the Gremlins.

"They run an offense similar to what we run and the defense is similar too," said Nottingham. "The only difference is they're a little bigger."

Nottingham was impressed with the Gremlins running backs, particularly Josh Fiscus, who rushed for 1,074 yards on just 144 carries and 19 touchdowns last year.

"We scrimmaged Union and they mentioned (Fiscus) as a good runner," said Nottingham. "They have two big, solid backs. They can work."

The Blue Devils will be led by tailback Josh Hobson (5-foot-10, 175 pounds) and junior quarterback Clayton Acker.

"(Hobson) did get good experience last year as a sophomore," said Nottingham. "Clayton didn't play quarterback last year. He's a good leader, a good solid player. He's not lacking in confidence. That's good for that position."

On the defensive side, Cambridge Springs is looking at junior defensive tackle Chris Reese and senior nose tackle Tony Confer to help bolster the unit.

"They're solid players that can give us leadership," said Nottingham.

"We're extremely young. I know I'll be starting one or two freshmen on offense and one or two freshmen on defense and some sophomores, too. We have a good group of underclassmen, but they're not very experienced," he added.

The Gremlins scheduled this game after West Shamokin left for the WPIAL and had to be replaced on the 2004 schedule.

"We tried to get a WPIAL team … someone local, but we had to take what was available," said Conto.

That's how Cambridge Springs, a District 10 team, found its way on the schedule.

Although they're a team that seems down, Conto sees a team with some muscle.

"They play power football," said Conto. "They line up in the power-I and constantly come at you. They pass a little and (Acker) looks like a hard runner.

"We'll just line up on their formation and go at it," Conto added.