FOOTBALL FRIDAY: Tigers vs. Parsons -- Each team sporting similar looks

Fort Scott High School will kick off its 114th season of football tonight when Parsons comes to Frary Field for a Southeast Kansas League contest. Fortunately, the schools wear different colors. Otherwise, based on the formations each team will play, it could be hard to tell them apart.

Both teams will run a Flexbone offense and a 4-3 defense. Each team's secondaries may play different coverages but that may be the only difference in their looks.

This will be the 33rd time these schools have met in the first game of the season, making Parsons the most frequent opening-day opponent for the Tigers. Fort Scott has faced Nevada 33 times in season openers but no other school more than five times.

Fort Scott is 23-9 against Parsons in openers. The Tigers have won their last three openers overall and and their last eight against the Vikings. Fort Scott is 60-36-3 overall against Parsons going back to their first meeting in 1896. They only school FSHS has played more often is Pittsburg (111 games).

Fort Scott's 60 wins over Parsons are more than against any other school and the Tigers have won their last 22 in a row over the Vikings, which is a school record for a winning streak over one time.

Parsons comes into the game on a 19-game losing streak but has a new head coach, Marc Svaty, who has come over from Halstead and installed the Flexbone to replace the Double-Wing the Vikings used the past three seasons.

A player to watch for Parsons tonight might be freshman T.J. Mayhue. He's only 5' 6" but it's been strongly suggessted in a Wednesday Parsons Sun story that he is going to be a major factor in getting the program turned back around.

The game kicks off at 7 p.m. tonight. Larry Gazaway and Kale Nelson will broadcast the game on KOMB 103.9 FM and Fort Scott TV on the internet.

TRENDS

Streak: Lost 1.

Regular-season streak: Lost 1.

League games: Lost 1.

Home games: Won 2.

THE SERIES

FORT SCOTT LEADS 60-36-3

First meeting: 1896, Fort Scott, 12-0.

Last season: Fort Scott, 57-13 (P).

First Parsons win: 1913, 19-0.

Last Parsons win: 1994, 28-27 (FS).

Streak: Fort Scott has won the last 22 meetings, which is the longest winning streak against one school in FSHS football history.

Series fact: Fort Scott has won the last nine games in this series played at Frary Field.

LAST FIVE MEETINGS

2009: Fort Scott, 35-6 (FS)

2010: Fort Scott, 14-3 (FS)

2011: Fort Scott, 61-12 (P)

2012: Fort Scott, 65-7 (FS)

2013: Fort Scott, 51-13, (P)

SEASON OPENERS

Overall: Fort Scott is 87-32-4.

Home games (known): Fort Scott is 31-12-1.

At Frary Field: Fort Scott is 26-11-1.

Versus league opponents (1928-present): Fort Scott is 26-13-1.

Streak: Fort Scott has won three straight season openers and its last two at Frary Field. The Tigers have beaten Parsons eight consecutive times in season openers.