Joel Taylor believes Warren Central can finally compete with bigger numbers and a healthy roster.

And the health part is key, as was evidenced by the last time the Dragons played Greenwood.

“That was when we were completely healthy, and when we’re completely healthy and we have all our guys out there, I think we can be competitive,” Taylor said. “I really, truly believe that. We’re looking forward for that opportunity.”

The chance for Warren Central to snap a two-year losing streak comes Friday night to open the 2018 high school football season. The Dragons will play a Greenwood team rebuilding under first-year coach William Howard, who would also like to get Greenwood started on the right foot in a new era.

“We had a good month and I think everybody is ready for football,” said Howard, whose Gators will host Warren Central for a 7 p.m. kickoff. The Kentucky Super Preps/Talk 104 Game of the Week will be broadcast live to the Bowling Green Daily News, Talk 104 and Kentucky Super Preps Facebook pages.

Warren Central enters Friday with a handful a senior skill players who were thrown in the varsity fires early in their career when Taylor inherited the program in 2016 as the fourth coach in four seasons. With a rise in numbers and consistency in schemes, Taylor is confident in the group led by seniors Jamale Barber, Xavier Patrick-Brown and Kaleb Metcalfe, junior Justin Borden and sophomore KJ Alexander.

Senior Xavier Ingram will take most quarterback snaps this year for the Dragons.

Most of those players helped Warren Central keep it close in the first half of the season opener last year against Greenwood. Penalties and a fierce rushing attack led by now-graduated quarterback Jackson Adams helped Greenwood pull away 37-12.

Senior Zach Langevine will start under center for Greenwood on Friday.

“That game was pretty even, but when it came to crunch time, (Adams) really was the guy that took them over the edge,” Taylor said. “Now they’re dealing with a quarterback in his first year starting and he’ll have some jitters dealing with that. Hopefully we can cause him to make some problems and we can capitalize.”

Consistency on offense is what Taylor needs most. Warren Central averaged 12.5 points in its first four games of 2017, then went scoreless in five consecutive games.

“In our scrimmage (at Paducah Tilghman and Marshall County) we had a couple of penalties and turnovers, but we had some nice drives and over 300 yards of offense,” Taylor said. “The penalty situation we’ve got to clean up because we can catch the ball and run with the ball. We’ve got to make sure we stay in the mindframe of getting it done together.”

Howard said he likes the maturity and discipline of his young quarterback, who will also have help with Triston Wilson in the backfield. Wilson ran for more than 1,100 yards in 2017 and will be asked to play just on offense this season.

“He’s had to play some fullback, some wingback and had to learn how to play all the positions offensively,” Howard said. “He’s one of those players going one way and I told him he’s got to be one of those players that knows all positions offensively because you can’t take a break. You’re going to get a break every time (defense is on the field).”

Building strength in numbers is the approach Howard, the Gators’ defensive coordinator the last three years, has taken working players like Wilson into multiple positions with hope that it builds value and experience as the year progresses.

“It’s been a difficult process, even for the kids because they get moved around from one position to the next,” Howard said. “The more you can move a kid around and make him learn multiple positions, the more valuable they are to your program because you never know what’s going to happen on Friday night.”{&end}