Lakeland High School gets its football season started tonight, while Nansemond River High School and Nansemond-Suffolk Academy take on opponents who went deep into the postseason last year. King’s Fork High School has a bye this week.

Woodrow Wilson (0-1) at Lakeland (0-0) – 7 p.m.

Entering his first game as a high school varsity head football coach, Cavaliers coach Kevin Knight’s thoughts were focused on his players.

“I’m excited, I’m excited for the guys and their opportunity,” he said. “They have a great opportunity ahead of them this season.”

Woodrow Wilson High School is coming off of a 41-6 season-opening home loss to Phoebus High School on Aug. 27, and the Presidents will likely be eager to avoid an 0-2 hole.

“I’m sure they’ll be hungry, but our guys are hungry as well,” Knight said.

After consulting film from Wilson’s game against the Phantoms, he learned some things that characterize the Presidents.

“They’ve got a quarterback who likes to run the ball a lot,” he said, and they have good athletes on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.

Senior quarterback Antonio Uzzle will be a player to watch, along with several defensive players including senior free safety Marcus Devin, senior middle linebacker Devon Harris and junior cornerback Kevin Whitfield.

Knight said he thinks his team will match up well, though it will be without starting freshman offensive guard Jayree Hardy due to a head injury.

Bishop Ireton (0-0) at Nansemond-Suffolk (1-0) – 7 p.m.

After putting together a good start to their 2015 season on Saturday with a 54-28 road victory over North Cross School, the Saints now take on a team coming off a successful season in the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association — Bishop Ireton High School.

“I think it’s a good early-season challenge for us against a quality (VISAA) Division I football team,” NSA coach Lew Johnston said. “They made it to the state championship game last year in Division I.”

He noted tonight’s game should give his team a good idea of where it stands at this point.

The Cardinals were a big passing team last year, but their quarterback and top two receivers graduated, Johnston said. This year, they will — at the very least — have a potent run game, thanks to junior Perris Jones.

“He’s pretty dynamic, reminds me a lot of J.C. Coleman, kid from Oscar Smith that’s up at Virginia Tech now,” Johnston said. Jones is not large, but he has power and breaks tackles. “He’s the key. We’ve got to stop him.”

Nansemond-Suffolk will be without the services of sophomore offensive guard Chris Murphy (stomach virus), junior linebacker/fullback KeShaun Moore (hip), senior linebacker/fullback Daniel Griffith (hamstring) and senior split end/defensive back Hunter Foster (hyper-extended knee).

Nansemond River (1-0) at Oscar Smith (0-0) – 7 p.m.

Last season: Tigers 49, Warriors 7

Nansemond River is on a high coming into its annual meeting with powerhouse Oscar Smith High School. The Warriors piled up 53 unanswered points on Aug. 28 to defeat Menchville High School 53-7 at John B. Todd Stadium in Newport News.

NR coach David Coccoli found the season-opening rout of the Monarchs to be a good prelude to facing the Tigers.

“I’d much rather go into this game with a win” than a loss, he said. “It certainly helps.”

There are at least two things his team must improve for this week, though: tackling and ball security.

The Tigers, which are undefeated against Southeastern District opponents since 2006, feature a lot of new faces this year, with one major exception.

“They throw the ball extremely well with their quarterback (Shon) Mitchell,” Coccoli said.

Mitchell, a junior, will be looking to connect with wide receivers Larry Chapel and Josh Gray. Kourtney Johnson and Khalik Perry look to power the Oscar Smith running game.