The real winner of Friday's annual Blue-Gold Game will be the fans, who will get their first look at the 2015 Siuslaw High School varsity football team.

"It's really an opportunity to have fun, to come play and to try stuff out," says Tim Dodson, 52, who is starting his 20th season as head coach of the Vikings.

"It will be the first time we put game gear on, and it's an opportunity for the public to take a look at us," he says. "It's something we started a long time ago, and it's just kind of carried on."

The players will take to the field at Hans Petersen Field at 6:30 p.m. for warm-ups, followed by some comments on the team by Dodson at about 7:20 p.m. and the game's start about 7:45 p.m.

"We have a running clock, and we play about 20 minutes per half, so that's about 40 minutes of action," says Dodson. "We don't do any special teams, so we'll get maybe 25, 30 plays total."

A player draft by the coaches was held Wednesday to determine the teams.

"We don't have great numbers (of players), but our schools are struggling to get kids to participate," says Dodson. "We have 22 kids, and the kids we have out are great kids."

First up for the Vikings is a nonleague game at Newport at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4, ahead of the opening of school on Tuesday Sept. 8.

Siuslaw defeated Newport 49-14 in the 2014 opener, a season that saw the Vikings go 6-4 overall,  2-3 in the Far West League and 1-1 in the state playoffs, beating Gladstone, 29-9, before being eliminated by Mazama, 42-12.

The Vikings host Pleasant Hill at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 11, in a nonleague home opener at Hans Peterson Stadium.

Siuslaw opens league play at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, with a home date against South Umpqua.

Complete varsity and junior varsity schedules are under the "Fall schedules" tab on the home page of ExplodingWhaleSports.com.