The 9-man football season kicks off under the lights tonight in southwest Saskatchewan.

The Maple Creek Redmen host the rival Shaunavon Shadows for a Friday Night Lights opener.

The Redmen are coming off a 2-4 campaign in 2017, where they were out-scored 247-99, and missed playoffs.

Meanwhile, the Shadows enter 2018 off a 4-2 record, out-scoring opponents 184-140 in the regular season. Into playoffs, the Shadows shut out Unity 18-0 in the opening round at home. They then crushed Nipawin 57-13 on the road to advance to the provincial final.

There, the Shadows faced off with a fellow Conference 2 squad from Indian Head. Shaunavon defeated the Broncs 24-7 to get crowned provincial champions in front of the home crowd at Shadows Field.

However, in two meetings between the two teams, both Maple Creek and Shaunavon nabbed a victory.

The Redmen won 28-19 in the opener under the lights in Shaunavon, while the Shadows took the rematch 38-18 in Maple Creek.

This year is a bit of a different look for the Shadows, with a new head coach and a pile of graduated starters from last season. However, a bit of a younger Shadows squad is still all-too-familiar with a night game atmosphere.

In fact, aside from the feeling of a provincial title, there might not be a better feeling high school football.

"Not really, no - other than our home night game, not much better," said new Shadows head coach Jordi Thomas. "It's quite the feeling though, going to another small town with a night game that we kind of brought down to the southwest. It's nice moving on from town-to-town kind of, doing those night games. It's nice to do - it's a good feeling."

As for the Redmen, what started off as a shaky 2018 campaign, even before the season started, is looking to be headed in the right direction.

"It's kind of funny - we were a little worried at the start because we only had about 20 kids show up for the first few practices," said Redmen assistant coach Tyson Krause. "We got a little worried, but school started, and there were a few more boys trickling in. We got a nice balance in size, a little bit of speed, some veterans, and some young guys. We're just going to have to put our buckets on, and go to work."

Sadly, a heavy aspect to the day, and game, looms on the hearts and minds of the Redmen and town of Maple Creek.

The contest is being played as a memorial game for Redmen alumni Edwin Perrin, who tragically passed away in late-July.

"He started to come out and coach with us," said Krause, adding that a day full of football is being played in the spirit of Perrin's love for the game.

"There's lots going on today with a junior game at 4 p.m., got a flag football tournament going on in memory of Edwin, and then our game here. Just a really great day, and thanks for all the support we've been getting over the last couple weeks," Krause shared.

Perrin graduated in 2014, and played junior football as a receiver with the CJFL's Chilliwack, BC-based Valley Huskers.

The Maple Creek Redmen host the Shaunavon Shadows live on Magic 97 with kickoff at 8 p.m. and pregame starting at 7:45.