By Brock Stafford | Beacon Sports Editor/generally well-liked

Another high school football season begins Friday for Bass Lake High School Canoes, with a home game against High School Creekfront.

Creekfront, a class sub-class-A school, was scheduled as part of a new strategy by a schedulology consulting firm hired by the school-district corporation, paid for through a crowdfunding campaign, a youth-athletics outreach grant and door-to-door begging by team members.

Head coach Zeb Dreppelin explained reasoning behind the schedule-strategry approach.

“(We (the school)) tried to water-down the non-conference slate as much as possible,” Dreppelin said. “Maybe we can pick up a couple extra wins as a result. But I won’t guarantee anything, nor should you or anyone.”

Moonshine Conference play for the Canoes opens Aug. 25, with a road trip to Hogback Lake, where Bass Lake will face the Farrowers on their home-ground turf.

An informal poll of league coaches has Hogback Lake finishing above the Canoes in the conference pecking order. A rival coach, insisting to not reveal his identity, calls that prediction “pretty much a no-brainer.”

Bass Lake finished 2016 with a 1-9 record, including 1-8 in regular season and 1-6 in league play, although the lone win came by forfeit and remains in dispute.

Despite all that, Dreppelin is hopeful the Canoes will improve in 2017. Team health is a significant factor, the coach stated.

“Not only do we have to avoid injuries,” Dreppelin said, “we need them not to happen in the first place.”

Kickoff time for the opener is 7 p.m. All other regular-season games begin around the same time of day.

Season outlook, 2017:

Key departures from 2016
Gush Accolades (RB); few others of note.

Key returning players
Offense: Gif Tannen (QB, junior); Tayken Forgranted (OL, senior); Van Dyke Snarks (RB, sophomore).
Defense: Ramone “Chicken” Vindaloo (DE/Punter, junior); Bill Billerson and Bob Bobberson (Linebacker tandem, seniors, twins separated at birth).
Special teams: Hernandez Chen-Svenson (PK, class level unknown).

2017 schedule
Aug. 18 High School-Creekfront
Aug. 25 at Hogback Lake**
Sept. 1 Steepwater**
Sept. 8 Countryfarm** (Homecoming)
Sept. 15 Grove Mill Park Riverview Jackson Saint Betty’s Lutheran
Sept. 22 at Prairie Depths** (Awaycoming)
Sept. 29 D’Nalekal**
Oct. 6 at Dri-County**
Oct. 13 at Nearbytown**
** Denotes Moonshine Conference game