When football fans jam the Friday night cathedrals that are high school football fields around West Texas this season, there will be plenty of new faces to look at — both players on the field and coaches along the sidelines.

More than 10 coaches will take over area programs — some for the very first time — this year with a slew of players looking to fill important positions on the field to help lead their teams toward the postseason.

Probably no other feels the expectations of what he must produce in his first season than first-year head coach Todd Pearson at Monterey.

Pearson was named the new head coach of the Plainsmen in April, taking over for James Morton, who left to become the head coach at District 2-5A-rival Midland Lee. Pearson was a seven-year assistant at Monterey before this season and let everyone know immediately when he was introduced as the head coach that, “I told you everything was going to be all right.”

Pearson feels he has an advantage with his players and teaching them as practices got underway in the first two weeks of August.

“The transition was not a hard thing to do here,” Pearson said. “Obviously there are subtle changes anytime you have someone come in to a new position whether it is internal or not. You still have to make sure that your kids believe in your system and what you’re going to do and they know that you’re there.”

And with plenty of leaders coming back to the Plainsmen this season, like quarterback Sam Teague and wide receiver Arrius Holleman, Pearson believes he has the right student-athletes in place for a smooth transition, and a familiar face as a new head coach always helps.

“I think with these kids, a comfort zone is obviously something they look forward to having,” he said. “A familiar face always helps that transition out so they can get to concentrating on what’s important and the goals we have for ourselves this season.”

But when it comes to continuing winning ways with players there is probably no more of a notable change than who will take over under center at Muleshoe.

The Mules won their first state championship in 2008, taking the Class 2A Division I title with a perfect 15-0 record behind record-setting quarterback Wes Wood. Wood passed for more than 4,000 yards and 64 touchdowns in his one and only season at the helm of Muleshoe’s spread offense.

Wood’s predecessor, Garrett Riley, also played in head coach David Wood’s system, which is mostly based on Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense. Riley is currently in a reserve role with the Red Raiders.

So in steps senior Jared Skipworth, who like many Tech quarterbacks will have only his senior season to run the Muleshoe spread. Skipworth was the primary backup last season and saw playing time at wide receiver, much like Wes Wood did his junior year behind Riley.

“The biggest thing is watching them adjust to just being new under center,” David Wood said. “But the reps are the biggest thing. Once you’re the starting quarterback it becomes more about seeing the whole field, getting accustomed to always reading the defenses and being able to read what the defenses are giving you.

“Anyone can run a bunch of plays. But being able to read things and recognizing coverages and then expose them is what running this offense is all about.”

Others taking over under center for 2008 postseason teams around the area include junior quarterback Caden Whitley at Roosevelt and Frenship junior quarterback Brandon Hanslik.

And then there’s Idalou, which just seems to find ways to continue its winning ways under head coach Johnny Taylor, who enters his 21st season with the Wildcats.

Taylor may have more new faces than most teams combined this season after seeing stars like quarerback/defensive end Sean Reagan and running back Tanner Cook graduate in the spring. Both were three-year starters for the Wildcats.

Senior C.J. Parkhill, who played quarterback for Idalou’s 7-on-7 team during the summer and played mostly at wide receiver last year, will step in to run the Idalou offense with junior running back Nick Gary.

“I think both of them had a good summer with 7-on-7,” said Taylor, who is 180-58-3 at Idalou. “Nick catches the ball really well and has a good eye for things when he runs with the ball, so we’re hoping he can step in there and help us at running back.”

No matter who the new faces are at positions or coaching spots, all pretty much would like to see a similar result, like Pearson, at the end of the season.

“First thing is getting back to the playoffs, and that’s taking it game-by-game with that goal in our minds,” Pearson said. “We can talk about other things and what else we thought we accomplished when we’re done. But we’re playing to get back to that winning tradition at Monterey.”