Following a disappointing beginning to the football season, the Bainbridge Spartans are pressing on and looking toward their next opponent.

The Spartans travel to Black Hills High in Tumwater for their next game at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 20.

Deja vu all over again.

“We played them this same week last year,” recalled Spartan Head Coach Andy Grimm.

“We played really well in the first half against them, got a really big lead and then just kind of fell apart. They beat us.”

“They’re a good hard-nosed hitting football team,” Grimm said of the Wolves.

One thing will be different this year, though. There’s a new coach, Dominic Yerrington, at the head of the Wolf pack.

“They have a new coach this year so they’re running things a little differently, especially on offense, but they come from a tough football league down there, centered around Olympia,” Grimm said. “They’re not huge guys but all the guys at the varsity level are hard-hitters. Not a huge size differential, but they are kids who will knock your shoulder pads around a little.”

On his strategy for facing Black Hills on Friday, Grimm is expecting the type of play to much resemble last week’s game against Kingston.

“Defensively they spread you out,” Grimm said of Black Hills. “They also like to pass. We’ve got to get pressure on the quarterback, we got to play good pass defense. Offensively, they do a nice job. They will most likely put as many guys as they can on the line of scrimmage, so we’ve got to stretch things out a little bit and open them up.”

Like last week’s game against the Buccaneers, there may be trouble if the Wolves get out in the open.

“They’ve got good team speed. On film it’s kind of hard to tell, but it looks like they’re pretty aggressive coming up on the flank and we don’t necessarily have the speed to get around them,” Grimm said.

The Wolves enter Friday’s game with an 0-2 record after last week’s 38-16 defeat at the hands of North Thurston and the 42-35 opening-season stumble against Clover Park.