The Keith Bears open the 2018 season on Friday night with a home game against the Billingsley Bears.

The non-region season opener for Keith was selected as the Game of the Week due to the circumstances created by the unusual removal of former head coach Harry Crum.

Crum had been with the Bears football program since the late 1990’s, and was the team’s head coach for the past 17 seasons.

Despite having the support of the school principal Tommy Tisdale and Dallas County Schools Superintendent Hattie Shelton, the school board voted not to reinstate the school’s all-time winningest coach for the 2018 season.

In his stead, Anthony Lumpkin took over in an interim capacity through the summer and was later voted on and approved as the new head coach for the Bears football program.

After a busy offseason of summer workouts and seven-on-seven exhibitions, Friday brings Lumpkin’s first test as a varsity head football coach.

“I’m excited,” he said. “I’m probably more anxious than anything, but I’m just looking to do the things that we’ve been able to do in the past like run the football and throw it around a little bit. We want to control the line of scrimmage and execute our offense.”

Despite the coaching change, Lumpkin made the transition easier for his players by sticking with the same offense.

“We’ve got some guys that are experienced,” Lumpkin said. “Ledell Jackson, Jared Edwards, Mark Young and Kendarius Perry are guys that should be able to help us. I feel good with those guys on the field. If we can get some stops and put the ball in those guys’ hands, I like our chances.”

Both Keith and Billingsley moved down a classification from Class 2A to Class 1A for this season, but they are not in the same region.

The two schools have played each other only eight times, and Billingsley leads the all-time series 5-3.

However, Keith has gotten the better of the black and gold Bears recently. In 2016, Keith defeated Billingsley 22-20. Keith won last year’s contest as well, 42-36.

The last time Billingsley defeated Keith was in 2013 when they shutout the blue and gold Bears 0-18.

Coming into this season, Billingsley will also have a first-year head coach on the sideline in Marvin Morton, according to the Alabama High School Football Historical Society.

Keith finished last season 6-5 and made the playoffs, while Billingsley ended the year 3-7.

Billingsley does have a returning quarterback that Lumpkin has keyed in on.

“We studied their quarterback because he’s very agile,” he said. “He’s very mobile, so we know we have to contain him. I think if we do that, then I like our chances of winning the ball game.”

The opening kickoff between the Bears and the Bears is scheduled to kickoff at 7 p.m.