It’s time to kick off another high school football season. This weekend, 26 of District 9’s 27 teams make their season debut. Friday night, 14 games highlight the schedule while one game will be played Saturday night.

Expanded playoffs, district expansion, conference shuffles and returning top players make for an interesting start to the season.

Here’s a look at what to look for this year in District 9.

Five will be played Friday night:

Coudersport at Johnsonburg, 7 p.m.

Otto-Eldred at Kane, 7 p.m.

Port Allegany at Ridgway, 7 p.m.

Smethport at Curwensville, 7 p.m.

And then one game Saturday:

Cameron County at Elk County Catholic, 7 p.m.

Keystone at Clarion, 7:30 p.m. at Clarion University

Redbank Valley at Union, 7 p.m.

A-C Valley at Clarion-Limestone, 7:30 p.m.

The Bisons still open with Bradford at home in what has been a preview of the District 9 Class AAA Championship game. Last year, Bradford beat Clearfield in the season-opener and the D-9 title game.

The rest of the league plays non-league games with the exception of Punxsutawney, which debuts in the Mountain Athletic Conference-Big School Division.

The Chucks open at Bellefonte.

Brookville at Moniteau, 7 p.m.

Central Mountain at DuBois, 7 p.m.

Karns City at Cambridge Springs, 7 p.m.

Class AA also enjoys the expanded format and the district will be able to accommodate all seven Class AA teams in the playoffs if every team decides to enter.

The Class AAA format remains the same with weeks 10 and 11 used for the D-9 playoffs if needed.

Last year, Johnston passed for 1,546 yards and 24 touchdowns while running for 580 yards and seven touchdowns. On defense, Johnston led his team in tackles from his linebacker spot.

Johnston also won Defensive Player of the Year his sophomore season and was Freshman of the Year three years ago. He enters his senior year with 2,812 yards passing and 46 TD passes along with 1,608 yards rushing.

Clearfield’s senior triplets of quarterback Tanner Kelly, running back Josh Harbold and receiver Mike Scoggins will be fun to watch on the stat sheet if not in person. Kelly led D-9 in passing yardage with 1,837 last year. Scoggins led the district with 781 yards receiving, which included an 18.2-yards per catch average. Harbold rushed for 1,122 yards, which ranked him fifth in the district. With 1,848 career yards rushing, Harbold has a shot to go over the esteemed 3,000-yard milestone with a healthy season.

Karns City senior Josh Fiscus ranked sixth in rushing with 1,046 yards and will try to lead the Gremlins back to the Class AA Championship game.

Otto-Eldred’s Virgil Graham (891 yards), Keystone’s Sam Swartzfager (865) and Bradford’s Dave Snyder (860) ranked eighth through 10^th in the district in rushing a year ago and all return to lead their respective teams.

Johnsonburg quarterback Anthony Imbrogno is the third 1,000-yard passer returning in D-9. Imbrogno passed for 1,026 yards and 10 touchdowns and was named Rookie of the Year.

In the Allegheny Mountain League, longtime members Eisenhower and Youngsville left because of District 10 restructuring their conferences by classification. Sheffield elected to join D-9 and stayed in the AML. With membership dropped to 12 teams, Cameron County moved back to the North Division to maintain the two-division format.

The District 9 League will not have Clearfield for one year because of the Bisons dropping DuBois from their schedule. Next year, that rivalry will be reinstated and the teams will play for the 100^th time. Until then, five teams -- DuBois, Brookville, Punxsutawney, St. Marys and Bradford -- will play for the league title.

Clearfield and Punxsutawney also are members of the newly-formed Mountain Athletic Conference-Large School Division. Their game will count in both leagues once Clearfield rejoins the D-9 League. The other MAC teams are from District 6: Lewistown, Indian Valley, Huntingdon and Bellefonte.

Port Allegany will challenge Coudersport as it did last year in a second-place finish that also saw a playoff berth. The Gators will have to replace graduated Claude Haskins’ 1,549 yards rushing. Bobby Nichols is back after rushing for 548 yards behind Haskins. Craig Flint and Willie Bova shared QB duties and combined for a little over 1,000 yards passing and 11 TD passes.

Allegheny Mountain League-South

Don’t count out defending AML champion Brockway, which was hit heavily by graduation. If the Rovers can replenish their line, they’ll be successful because the new skill position players are more than capable -- senior running backs Lenny Calhoun and Bobby Liddle, quarterback Matt Foradora, and fullback Ben Donlin.

Also look for Kane to make some noise too. The Wolves are led by returning starting quarterback Mike Giordano and tailback Kyle Oakes.

District 9 League

The Owls lost most of their starters from last year’s Class AAA Western Region finals squad, but do return Snyder who rushed for 860 yards. Quarterback Mike Austin is also back and will lead the run-oriented attack. Other key players include Jeremy O’Toole, Rocco Lentz, Shawn Spindler and kicker Kyle MacFarlane, who booted seven field goals a year ago.

Brookville, hit hard especially on its lines by graduation, is led by quarterback Nick Heschke, who passed for 833 yards and rushed for 259 yards.

DuBois could bounce back into contention as the Beavers return their entire backfield, including quarterback Joe Wanson and running backs Vance Newell, Mike Stewart and Robbie Hanzely. Also look for receiver-quarterback Ryan Liddle to make an impact as well.

Punxsutawney and St. Marys are coming off losing seasons. The Chucks will have Dustin Dubensky at quarterback with Adam McCully and Devin Mesoraco running out of the backfield. Longtime Elk County Catholic coach Joe Schlimm takes over at St. Marys.

Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference

With Johnston leading the way, the Lions are the obvious favorites, but don’t count out Redbank Valley, Clarion, Moniteau and Karns City.

The Bulldogs are looking for a new QB, but have 15 starters back, including fullback Skyler Smith who rushed for 727 yards as a sophomore.

Clarion is big up front -- its offensive line averages 6-1, 250 pounds -- and the Bobcats have some rushing experience back in Chris McSwain, Brad Rapp, Cody Dolby and Elliot Fabri.

Moniteau has 11 starters back, including fullback Matt Schandelmeier, who rusheed for 365 yards, and receiver Eric Hilliard who had 458 yards receiving and eight touchdowns.

Karns City lost most of its starting lineup, but will be bouyed by Fiscus and receiver David Black, who caught 23 passes for 301 yards.

Class AAAA team: DuBois

Class AAA teams: Bradford, Clearfield, A-C Valley, Punxsutawney and St. Marys.

Anything other than a Clearfield-Bradford championship game matchup would be a surprise.

Class AA teams: Brookville, Redbank Valley, Otto-Eldred, Sheffield, Karns City, Brockway and Moniteau.

All seven teams could make the playoffs and the favorites role isn’t rock solid, but give the early-season nod to Redbank Valley. Brockway and Moniteau might have something to say about things by the end of the season.

Class A teams: Coudersport, Port Allegany, Cameron County, Smethport, Curwensville, Kane, Johnsonburg, Ridgway, Elk County Catholic, Union, Clarion-Limestone, Clarion and Keystone.

Clarion-Limestone tries to become the first team to three-peat and is favored at this point. After that , it’s wide open and that’s perfect timing for the introduction of the eight-team playoff field this year.

The list of contenders includes Coudersport, Port Allegany, Curwensville, Kane and Clarion.

In the KSAC, Randy Lemon takes over at A-C Valley for Don King, who lasted two seasons, while Jason Nellis, a former all-state player for Keystone, takes over for long-time Keystone head coach Dan Reed. Tom Kidder becomes the third head coach at Union in less than a year replacing Jason Best who had replaced last year’s head coach Scott Kindel but didn’t coach a practice resigning over the summer.

The AML sees former Smethport standout Rob Cosper take over at his alma mater replacing Brandon Falk, who coached one season, while Tom Launer replaces Kevin Carter, who lasted just two years in his return to the Paper City.