The Ardmore offensive line pushes a blocking sled during a recent practice. The Tigers will begin their 2018 season by hosting West Morgan at 7 p.m. Friday.

Ardmore coaches and players aren’t the only ones looking forward to Friday night with great anticipation. Tigers’ new head coach P.J. Wright said the entire Ardmore community is excited about the start of a new season.

“The excitement level is really high, not just for the kids, but for the community as well,” Wright said. “People who I hadn’t met yet are coming by volunteering to pitch in. We had a stadium clean up day last week to get the place ready for the season, and had a lot of people come out to help. Everybody is all excited about the season.”

Ardmore will open its season Friday night when the Tigers host West Morgan at 7 p.m. The Tigers are looking to rebound from a 3-7 season in 2017, which they served under an interim head coach.

“We’re ready to play someone else,” Wright said. “We’ve been together for so long through the spring, all the way through right now. We played an intersquad game in the spring, and played each other in several scrimmages. Now we’re ready to have someone else come over here. We’re ready to go.”

That team is the West Morgan Rebels, who are coming off their most successful season in 10 years, finishing 2017 with a 10-2 record and a second-round Class 4A playoff appearance.

However, the Rebels have a new coach as well, as former coach John Ritter is now the head man at Russellville.

The coaching change creates a lot of unknowns for the Ardmore coaching staff.

“We don’t know who is going to play quarterback for them, and don’t know what they’ll run on offense and defense,” Wright said. “We’re prepared for everything. We put our kids in a lot of different situations, not knowing what they’ll do. I do know they’re coached by a really good coach (Mikel Riggs). He’s a good coach with a lot of experience and he’s going to do a good job over there.”

Riggs is the former offensive coordinator for Leeds and T.R. Miller, and is making his debut as a head coach, much like Wright.

“One thing in our favor is that it’s his first game also,” Wright said. “As much as I’ve had to prepare for my home game, it also takes a lot to prepare for an away game. He’s had to do that stuff as well.”

Another thing Ardmore has in its favor is the health of its team. Wright said no players suffered injuries during preseason practices, and the full squad will be ready to go Friday night.

“We’ve got the normal bumps and bruises, but we’re all good and ready to play,” Wright said. “It’s a blessing to make it through everything we’ve been through in the last two-and-a-half weeks of camp. We’re as healthy as we can be.”