The high school football season kicks off tonight with its busiest Friday night of the season. Around the state, 56 teams will open their season under the lights.

While everyone is 0-0 and has reason for optimism when the season starts, it’s clear that winning is going to be a more formidable task for some teams than others.

Some coaches would just as soon have their team tested early rather than dive into the season with the easy part of their schedule. Oak Hill coach Bruce Nicholas isn’t among them, at least not this year.

Nicholas would have liked to have known a little bit more about his team before having to face defending Class B state champion Belfast, but at least he’ll know a lot more about it once they do. “Opening up at Belfast is tough, but it will give us a good idea where we are right off,” Nicholas said.

The Raiders bring back a veteran offensive line led by 270-pound center Robie Leavitt, guards Steve Wood and Mike Houde and bookends Zach Harvey and Dan Labrie. The line averages just under 6-foot-2 and 241 pounds, so creating space in the Belfast defense shouldn’t be problem. The problem is, Nicholas doesn’t now how his revamped backfield is going to react.

The backfield has almost an entirely new look from last year’s squad, which celebrated its inaugural season in the Pine Tree Conference with a 6-3 record and a playoff berth Wing-back Troy Jannelle and tough fullback Eric Daniels saw time last year, but Nicholas also expects to rely heavily on new faces such as tailback Keith Daniels, a transfer from Cony and wing-back/flanker Wally Rines are the new faces.

“(Daniels) has good speed and he runs hard,” Nicholas said. “He’s been a real pleasant surprise. And Rines, we haven’t had a runner like him in a while.”

An old face in a new place is QB Gabe Fontaine, who is moving from wingback. He replaces four-year starter David Chase, who thrived in the Raiders’ spread offense.

While the 5-9, 160-pound Fontaine is more of a running quarterback than Chase was, Nicholas doesn’t plan on making major changes to his base offense.

“We’re still going to go shotgun with him back there,” he said. The Raider defense will have its work cut out for it trying to contain two of the conference’s top playmakers playing for Belfast, Josh Aldus, who led the league with 1,023 yards and 17 TDs on the ground last year, and speedy Garren Horne, a threat to breakaway running and catching the ball and returning kicks.

Another team facing an early test is Edward Little, which hosts Bangor at Walton Field tonight. The Red Eddies are hoping to rebound from a 1-7 season with an experienced but reshuffled defense augmented by some beefy linemen.

“We had eight underclassmen on defense this year, and their all back at different spots,” Hersom said. “We feel pretty good about some of the new kids that are coming along on the line. They’re working real hard.”

The Eddies may not face a better offensive line this year than Bangor’s, led by senior tackle Kyle Oliver, which keys the Rams’ tradition smashmouth offense featuring tailback Aaron Gallant and fullback Nick Payson.

Among the other notable matchups:

• Poland Regional High School makes its varsity debut in Naples at Lake Region High School.

• Lisbon begins defense of its Western Class C title on the road against Old Orchard Beach, which might be the most improved team in the Campbell Conference.

• Lewiston faces to one of the PTC’s most improved teams, Windham. Many expect the two teams to battle for the fourth and final playoff berth in the PTC South at the end of the season.

• Hampden Academy hosts Leavitt in a game that could have similar playoff implications.

• Mt. Blue hosts Waterville in another the marquee PTC North matchup.