Friday Night Lights. The tradition. The excellence. The Monarchs. The Titans. All in one place for the biggest night of our school year.

Walking into the Foundation Field Stadium tonight, the overwhelming sound of students and the paint covered fans will capture the attention of many. However, the reason thousands of people will gather at this stadium is to see the two rival teams battle it out and see who owns Papio.

Last season the Monarchs prevailed in a 49-42 win, ending a four year Monarch drought. However, this does not keep the Monarch football team or fans content. This is a new season and the 26 returning Monarch seniors are hungry to win their first home game of the season and more specifically their last rivalry game.

Monarch coach Randy Huebert is starting his fourth season as the head coach of the Monarch football team and is excited to get the season started.

“We have a lot of seniors and they have some really good goals for the year, one of which is beating South,” Huebert said.

The Monarchs have been working towards this goal since last season.

“We have prepared for this game with every practice, every early morning, weekends and time spent lifting and training is done for games like these,” senior Jack Patzner said.

The Monarchs, who finished 3-6 last year, look to build off of that and start their season the right away.

“I feel like I have to leave everything on the field and play every snap like it’s my last,” senior Tevin Curry said.

Both Patzner and Curry have put their all in for the football team and look forward to playing against their rival school one last time.

Walking out of the stadium tonight, the Monarch students, fans, and teachers look to be victorious and gain bragging rights within the district.