On Friday night, high school football goes full tilt across Alberta and even before kickoff both Cochrane teams have been given high rankings by Football Alberta.

The Cochrane Cobras have been ranked the #1 in tier 3 football and the Bow Valley Bobcats #1 in tier 4 by the provincial body. The Cobras they have a steep history of being one of the best programs in tier 3. With the Bobcats, Football Alberta was impressed with how they developed over last season and became the only sixth rank team in any tier to go on to win a provincial title.

Still, the question remains as to whether the Bobcats will be placed in tier 3 or 4 in the provincial playdowns. Right now their student population is on the cusp of climbing a tier and it will be determined later this month where they'll fall.

For Bobcats co-head coach Cam Cote, the ranking reflects how hard the team has worked to rebuild and if he had his way he'd like to team to remain in tier 4 to defend their provincial title.

"I'd like to go and defend the title," says Cote. "Then when you walk into provincials, you walk on to the field as the defending champ. You walk on to the field in tier 3, you're nobody; we haven't done anything at tier 3."

Still, he recognizes its inevitable they will be climbing a tier if not this season, then next.

"This is the third year of the rebuild so it would be nice to get that third year in, but if you go up, you go up."

The Bobcats are fielding their largest team ever, thanks to a growing interest in the school body that saw a huge uptake of grade 10s both last year and this season. That has given them the opportunity to split the team into a senior and JV squads and all will get ample field time.

"Everybody gets a lot of play time. You want to develop the young guys and they're not going to develop on the bench."

The team will have an all new look offensively and defensively to reflect the growth in skill sets and the growing depth of their coaching staff.

"The coaching staff has really grown so we can do more one-on-one coaching and the experience of the coaching staff is fantastic."

He's predicting a great season for returning quarterback Austin Javorsky, plus most of their offensive and defensive line is back.

"We have a very good offensive and defensive line this year and we're expecting great things from Javorsky because he performed at a very high level at the end of last year. He's worked hard in the off-season so I think he'll be a stand out this year."

The Bobcats open their season on the road Friday against the Bert Church Chargers, of Airdrie, and return home for an exhibition game Saturday against Rundle College.

"Rundle is a very good measuring stick, a very good football team, so that will give us a good idea where we're sitting because they're a team that competed pretty hard at tier 3 for a number of years."

Cobras co-coach Rob McNab, who calls offense, says they'll have to go hard against the Springbank Phoenix on Friday. He's impressed with how the Cobras performed at last Thursday's jamboree that gave them a sneak peek at other Rocky View teams, but he also took note of the Phoenix.

"We have to come out firing. They have a big d-line, they're huge."

Like the Bobcats, they're starting the season on the road and are then off to Vernon and Seattle next week, so we won't see the Cobras here until Sept. 23.

With Tae Gordon going on to play for the Queen's Gaels this season in Kingston, ON., Brett Conlon has been given the start as quarterback but McNab says he also expects Xavier Vaillancourt to be taking quite a few snaps. 

Conlon is in his final season with the Cobras, has worked hard and deserves the start, says McNab, but he also valued as a defensive linebacker by the team.

"Brett knows what's going on, knows the system, but he's going to get tired out there and we know Xavier is a pretty special talent. I will tell you right now Xavier will be playing a lot. I have no problem putting Xaiver at any time in the game so you'll see Xav go in there a bit."

As with any major change in quarterback duties, there is an adjust made in the playbook to capitalize on their strengths and this year is no different.

"We've changed some things," says McNab. "Time will tell, we're doing the same things but if the kids can't handle it the way we expect then we'll have to resort back to a more pocket-style passing. With Tae, we were getting out of the pocket quite a bit."

Football Alberta has a saying when it comes to tier 3 football. “The three guarantees in life are death, taxes, and Cochrane winning the Alberta Bowl at Tier III" and it usually comes true. In the past 15 seasons the Cobras have only failed to make the provincial final three times (2009, 2010 and 2013) and have won it all 10 times in that period.

It's continuity that has been the backbone of the Cobras success, believes McNab.

"We've had some good success because our goals are focused on a provincial title. We're not a team that rebuilds year-to-year. We stay pretty consistent over the years and I think consistency in our coaching staff, within our approach to practice, our approach to games, our playbook really helps and that's why we've been successful. We're not changing things up all the time or rebuilding."

The Cobras are carrying 50 players and the bulk of the starters are grade 12s, though they have the philosophy that the best players get the start regardless of grade level. That means some grade 11s and grade 10s will  be worked into the lineup.

"I think our 10s have been doing an incredibly good job right now. So you'll see more grade 10s working their way into the lineup, like Ethan Noble. He's been playing some runningback and he's in grade 10 and I think you'll see him get a fair bit of time. He's doing a really good job."