Week 1 of the 2020 high school football season has finally come despite somedoubts. There will be some key non-divisional matchups that either continue the rivalries or will be the start of a new rivalry.

The meeting between the Foley Lions and the Robertsdale Golden Bears is one of the oldest rivalries in the state of Alabama. The Foley Lions will be traveling to face the Robertsdale Golden Bears on Friday night.

This season will be the 99^th meeting between the two long-time teams with the first meeting going back to the 1925 season. The Lions have won 76 of the matchups while the Golden Bears have won only 16 of those games.

This will be the first meeting between the two teams since 2017. Both Foley and Robertsdale are on a serious rebuilding season. Last season, the Golden Bears finished with a 1-9 record with their only win coming from a 28-27 overtime victory at the Gulf Shores Dolphins in Kyle Stanford’s first season as head coach. The Lions are in their first season under new head coach Deric Scott. The Lions needed more intensity and strive to win after only winning 11 games since 2016.

The Gulf Shores Dolphins will host their first-ever meeting with the Elberta Warriors this Friday night in Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium. The Warriors are entering their third season in competitive football play and their first as a legitimate 5A team.

They will be led this year by head coach Nathan McDaniel, who was previously the head coach the Baldwin County High School Tigers. McDaniel has experience coaching against teams in the 6A class including the Dolphins. McDaniel has a 5-1 record when coaching against the Dolphins. The one loss was to Gulf Shores was in the 2014 season, which was the last time the Dolphins had accounted for at least four wins in a season.

The Warriors are trying to find out how good they are, especially having to play against more aggressive programs like UMS-Wright, St. Paul’s, and LeFlore. The Dolphins are looking to create some spark on the offensive side of the ball in Matt Blake’s fourth season as head coach.

Week 1 will be the beginning as well as the continuation of rivalry games between four teams in the southern Baldwin County region.

Look for the main attention to be on Foley at Robertsdale but look forward to the new intense rivalry when the Warriors travel to face the Dolphins.