Friday night, but no lights yet.

We'll see some next week when full practices begin. Until then, there's our high school football previews. Today we go south and northeast into a couple of mountain towns where they play some pretty good football (no, not THAT one, not yet).

FRAZIER MOUNTAIN FALCONS

Coach: Jarudd Prosser (second year)

2007 record: 6-4 (1-4 High Desert, 4-1 home)
Average points: 27.2
Average points allowed: 20.9
Average rush yards: 186.6
Average rush yards allowed: 210.6
Average pass yards: 165.6
Average pass yards allowed: 98.1
Best win: Frazier Mountain 28, Lancaster-Desert Christian 0
Worst loss: Mojave 28, Frazier Mountain 20

Key players: Joey Regan, sr, WR/DB; Benny Carillo, sr, WR/DL; Ethan Fausto, sr, OL/DL; Dustin Madewell, sr, WR/K

Key losses: Tony Lenz, RB/LB; John Burns, QB/DB; Tim Buxton, WR/DB; Danny Venegas, WR/DB; Sam Teare, OL/DL

Outlook: Jarudd Prosser's first year on the Grapevine was a comfortable one, considering returning HDL Offensive Player of the Year Tony Lenz was back. Lenz didn't disappoint, putting up some staggering numbers: 1,145 rushing yards, 14 touchdowns; 291 receiving yards, four more scores. And though the Falcons didn't match their 8-3 playoff effort from 2006, Prosser had a moderately successful debut. Well, Year 2 is going to be a bit more difficult. Lenz is gone, as is starting QB John Burns and leading receiver/backup quarterback Buxton. But successful programs — and FMHS qualifies — usually breeds kids who "know how to win" (you get a sense of what I mean in this story, written by Falcons assistant Tim Garcia). There might be a slight slip this year, but I'd still expect Frazier Mountain to be a factor in the HDL.

KERN VALLEY BRONCS

Coach: Ben Goffinett (fourth year)

2007 record: 5-6 (3-2 High Desert, 4-1 home)
Average points: 23.0
Average points allowed: 24.5
Average rush yards: 241.1
Average rush yards allowed: 245.5
Average pass yards: 67.3
Average pass yards allowed: 75.0
Best win: Kern Valley 28, Mammoth 20
Worst loss: McFarland 22, Kern Valley 14

Key players: Warren Pappas, jr, RB/WR/LB; Ethan Kennedy, sr, WR/DB; Tyler Kaplan, sr, WR/DB; Tyler Gibson, sr, RB/DB; Mark Driskell, sr, RB/DB, Bo Hurley, OL/DL

Key losses: Kevin Emery, QB/DB; Jakob Carr, RB; Kevin Feigenhauer, LB; Pablo Anzaldo, RB/DB; Adam Peters, K/P

Outlook: Goffinett has certainly seen both sides of the coin in his three years in Lake Isabella. In his first year, the Broncs won their first game in two years and actually made the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade. The next season, they fell to 1-9 as Goffinett installed new schemes on both sides of the ball. As the players grasped the system, Kern Valley's experience allowed it to return to another successful year. What Year No. 4 of the Goffinett era brings really is anybody's guess — even Goffinett's. First off, fullback Justin Sulu (1,361 yards, 15 TDs) is awaiting a Kern High School District discipline review before he's allowed back on the team. If he is, that's a huge boost. If not, Kern Valley will turn to a running back-by-committee approach in a Wing-T offense that doesn't have much size on the offensive line. That's the other big question mark. Goffinett freely admits that unless the o-line can hold its own, making the playoffs again will be difficult.

Quotable: "I'll dance a jig in the street if we win league. But we've got to start slow."
— coach Ben Goffinett, after saying his team needs a renewed commitment to weight lifting and conditioning

HS FOOTBALL PREVIEW INDEX
July 29: Lighthouse Christian, Immanuel Christian, Maricopa
July 30: Boron, Burroughs
July 31: Desert, Rosamond

TOMORROW: Mojave, McFarland