WELLSBURG — The long-awaited first Friday night guiding his alma mater is finally here for Frank Sisinni.

Sisinni will lead Brooke, the team with which he won a state title as a player, onto the field as its head coach its head for the first time Friday night when the Bruins welcome Beaver Local to Paul “Bud” Billiard Field inside Brooke Memorial Stadium.

“It’s very exciting because you put all this prep into this off season, and you talk about working towards game week, and you talk about how it’s not too far off in the distance, and now, here it is, It’s Week 1, it’s time to go,” Sisinni said. “We’re at a point where we’re tired of going against each other as much, and we’re ready to see an opponent in a game situation. I know we got to do that in our scrimmages, but nothing else is like Friday night being able to go out there and compete for real.

“I’m very excited for the first one back at Brooke. I’ve had some moments already during the practices and the lead up to it. I can’t really put into words what it will be like, it will definitely be an experience, a positive one for me to come out with the team, as I did as a player, and go take the sidelines and look at the stands and see the people that are there and the community and to be excited about it.

“It’s my turn to be in front to lead such a historic football program, knowing where it was at in the 80s and 90s and that’s what we’re trying to recapture again here as we rebuild it.”

The opponent on Friday night is not an unfamiliar one, neither is their head coach. Beaver Local is led by veteran grid boss Mike McKenzie, formerly the head coach at Edison, and someone who Sisinni’s crossed paths with.

“I have a history with Mike McKenzie, we coached together at Weir for a few seasons, and I know what he brings to the table when it comes to his philosophy and how he does things. And you can see that when we watch film and break them down. They’re a very, very senior oriented team on the offense and defense, both sides of the ball.

“Having the number of kids that they have that have got a lot of playing time is definitely something that we’re aware of. It all starts up front, and considering they have a group that’s probably averaging about 230 across the line, about six foot, and they’re all veterans, that’s something that we’ll have to contend with on game night.”

The Beavers, who are coming off a 4-6 campaign a year ago, opened their season last week with a 27-20 win over Shaw. They also won last year’s meeting with the Bruins in Calcutta.

That was a different Brooke team, though, and it’s a new year and new coaching staff — which Sisinni hopes can get off to a good start and springboard the season.

“Everyone wants to get off to a great start in the opener,” Sisinni said. “That would be massive for us, because it’s a program-building thing for us, not to just the start of the season, so to be able to start off on the right foot would be very big for us.

“We’re working hard and cleaning up some of the things that we had seen in the scrimmages. There were some really good things that happened in the scrimmages as well, but we’ll hang our hat on what we do best.

“To go out and be 1-0 one more time has always been the motto here with Coach Billiard, and that’s not going to change. That’s part of our history. That’s always the goal not to look too far ahead, to focus on the task at hand. Right now, our focus is on Beaver Local. We’re a couple days away from playing, and the whole school is excited about it.”