Based on the preseason rankings, Alaska's new football season will begin with a decidedly old feel.
The Bartlett Golden Bears and the Soldotna Stars both captured state championships last season, and both are early favorites this season.
Bartlett is ranked No. 1 in Division I, and Soldotna is ranked No. 1 in Division II/Division III.
Play kicks off this weekend with 14 games, including one in Hawaii. Bartlett is in Maui for a Saturday night game against H.P. Baldwin High School.
On Friday, Soldotna will try to extend its winning streak to 60 when it takes on the West Eagles at 6:30 p.m. in Soldotna.
The Stars in recent years have opened the season by playing — and beating — against Anchorage powerhouses, and this season they'll test themselves against the team that lost to Bartlett in last year's Division I state championship game.
West is ranked third in the Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network's preseason Division I rankings. Four of the top five teams are from Anchorage — Bartlett, East, West and Chugiak — and the fifth is the newly merged team from Juneau, which combined the programs at Juneau-Douglas and Thunder Mountain.
The other set of rankings includes both Division II and Division III teams. Two of the top five spots went to Division III teams — No. 3 Eielson and No. 4 Barrow, the reigning Division III state champ.
ASBN football polls
Division I
1. Bartlett
2. East
3. West
4. Chugiak
5. Juneau
Division II/III
1. Soldotna
2. West Valley
3. Eielson
4. Barrow
5. Palmer
Friday's games
Homer at Kodiak, 6 p.m.
Redington at Ketchikan, 6 p.m.
West at Soldotna, 6:30 p.m.
East at Chugiak, 7 p.m.
Colony at South, 7 p.m.
Eagle River at Houston, 7 p.m.
Service at West Valley, 7 p.m.
Saturday's games
Kenai at Lathrop, 1 p.m.
Nikiski at Barrow, 1 p.m.
Monroe at Seward, 1 p.m.
Wasilla at Dimond, 2 p.m.
Juneau at Palmer, 2 p.m.
Eielson at North Pole, 7:30 p.m.
Bartlett at Baldwin (Maui), 9 p.m.