Mountain Valley High School moves through its pre-practice stretching ritual under the fading sunlight and a deep blue sky to match their jerseys. AC/DC, Metallica and Pantera scream out from the potent speakers overlooking Hosmer Field. Grunts and whistles alternately fill whatever room is left in the eardrums.

And in a rare twist this most closely documented of seasons, there are no cameras.

“There’s not a whole lot riding on it,” senior two-way standout Dean McCrillis said of the impending clash of Western Class B titans tonight in Cape Elizabeth. “It’s just another game.”

McCrillis never ceases making contact with his dark eyes. He believes the mantra, as most self-motivated football players do. But there’s a year of video, audio and printed evidence to the contrary.

By the time the Falcons and Capers hit the artificial turf at Hannaford Field this evening, their seniors and head coaches already will be full-fledged movie stars; their communities unwittingly pitted in a clash of cultures and lifestyles.

Separated by two hours of highway and many pounds of metal in their football trophy cases, unbeaten Mountain Valley and Cape Elizabeth are united by their participation in a documentary that brings elements of “Friday Night Lights” and “Varsity Blues” to our own corner of the world.

It’s called “The Rivals,” and it’s a production of Kirk and Lisa Wolfinger’s Emmy Award-winning Lone Wolf Documentary Group of South Portland. Kirk, a Cape Elizabeth football parent, was captivated by the ambiance at last year’s regular-season and playoff confrontations between the two teams.

“He went to that first Mountain Valley-Cape game and he was just awestruck with what he saw in Rumford, because that is high school football Americana in a snapshot,” said Cape head coach Aaron Filieo. “I think that’s what the documentary is trying to get to, is that all over this country we have different communities, different socioeconomic levels and different philosophies and different traditions. But when you get two teams that are really dedicated to one goal, then it evens out on the playing field.”

Producers, directors and videographers have covered practices and games for both teams. They have visited homes, interviewed parents and players and soaked up local color.

“At first, it was kind of weird. I didn’t think I’d get used to it,” said Mountain Valley senior Derek Sicotte. “Sometimes the cameras are there and we know they’re there. We just don’t show it.”

As with any project involving an emotional game, proud communities and young people, there has been no shortage of controversy.

Some adults worry that the attention places additional pressure on young personalities that are already under a microscope. Even players understand that uneasiness.

“It isn’t as great as everybody thinks it would be,” said Matt Laubauskas, one of only seven returning lettermen from last year’s Mountain Valley state championship team. “It’s more of a distraction than anything else. But I guess it gives people a chance to see what high school football is all about.”

There are concerns that the suburban filmmakers will cast Rumford and Mexico in a negative light, possibly playing on stereotypes to demonstrate the vast differences between the mill town and the coastal community with the postcard-worthy lighthouses.

So far, trailers made available on YouTube, the popular video sharing web site, appear to handle those differences respectfully. One segment, for instance, is devoted to Mountain Valley assistant coach Bob Laubauskas’ recovery from a workplace accident and how he has used it to teach his sons, Matt and Ryan, a lesson in perseverance.

“They gave us a tape of me, my dad and my brother,” Matt Laubauskas said. “We watched that and everything. But it’s just a tape.”

The YouTube clips produced their share of locker room bulletin-board fodder.

Filieo received some public criticism for his use of salty language and imagery in one snippet that since has been removed from the Internet.

“I don’t mind being on camera. I believe in what I do and how I do it, and as long as players and my family are on board, the hell with everything else,” said the coach. “I guess I never really thought that it would get to this level.”

Mountain Valley is clearly motivated by the title and the recurring theme of rivalry, considering the vast difference in the programs’ historical body of work. Cape is winless against the Falcons since joining Western B essentially as an expansion team in 2004.

“I know for me, York is our real rival,” said Mountain Valley’s Ryan Cormier. “They’ve beaten us. You can’t take a team as your rival when they’ve beaten you every time.”

“I think they want to be rivals more than we do,” McCrillis said. “It’s kind of a little disrespectful in some way to just come out and say, ‘Oh, you’re going to be our rivals now.’ But I appreciate them coming out and giving us that challenge.”

Filieo clarified that the “rival” designation represents not so much what Cape has accomplished as where they strive to be.

“We highly respect them. They’re the measuring stick. It’s a rivalry in that regard,” he said. “What we can’t do is be so fixated on each other that we let Wells or York or Fryeburg nip us both …”