Friday night at Veteran’s Stadium won’t be the first time that Shippensburg has faced Dover to kick off the high school football season.

The Greyhounds have opened the last several campaigns against the Eagles, but that isn’t the only similarity these team have. They also go to the same offseason camp. The teams will kick off at 7 p.m.

“We know what we’re going up against,” Ship coach Eric Foust said. “They’re a very big team. They seem to be every year. We’re going to have to go out and play good football.”

Shippensburg jumped out to a 35-0 lead against Dover last year and hung on for a 35-26 victory. Adam Houser was limited to just 17 yards of total offense in that game, but he’s going to be the driving force for the Ship rushing attack Friday. He finished last season with over 1,000 yards of total offense (506 rushing and 564 receiving).

Dover will return several key skill players from last year’s team. Junior Justin Johnson is back under center after throwing for 1,034 yards and rushing for 424 more in 2017. He threw 14 touchdowns and eight interceptions but did not play when these teams met. Brandon Lawyer (junior) returns as the team’s leading rusher from last season with 768 yards, while fellow junior Derek Arevalo added 717 more and led the team with 586 receiving yards.

Foust said, “They have 2 nice running backs, and their quarterback is also returning. They have a lot of nice pieces back from last season.”

But no matter what skill players are on the field, Foust believes the winner of this game has to dominate in the trenches.

He said, “This is definitely going to be an offensive line versus defensive line battle. I’m confident that if we can win up front, we can win the game. We have to be strong up front.”

The Hounds are returning four starters on the offensive line and several others on their defensive front. That experience could be the key to a Shippensburg win on opening night.