FOLEY, Ala. — The Foley Lions are in unfamiliar territory heading into Thursday’s season opener against Murphy at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile.

The Lions open the season with a new starter at quarterback and all new players on the offensive and defensive lines for the first time in three years. Senior lineman Tyler Cecil is Foley’s most experienced offensive lineman, and he shared the tight end role with fellow returner Seth Tibbs in 2010. Junior quarterback Maison Taylor will replace three-year starter Darius Powell, who now plays for UAB.

“We are concerned about our offensive and defensive lines, because the game is still won in the trenches, regardless of how they spread it out,” Foley head coach Todd Watson said. “You’ve still got to run the ball and stop the run. That is a concern from an experience standpoint. From a work ethic standpoint, I am tickled to death at how hard these guys have worked.”

Watson said his team will have to rely on returning skill position players early in the season to be successful. Foley returns its leading rusher in senior Kalif Koen, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards as a junior, and fellow senior back Joseph Brister. Senior wide receiver Bob Pugh returns, and junior Alontai Adams and sophomore Demarcus Bingham will catch passes from Taylor.

“Having experience back at the skill positions, having experience back at running back, we will have to lean on those guys early in the year,” Watson said. “We’ve got to do some things to take the pressure off of our offensive line. We can’t put them in third and long situations where the defense knows what's coming. We’ve got to be able to have a good mix and be able to take the pressure off those offensive linemen.”

Defensively, the Lions will balance inexperience on the line with a wealth of experience in the defensive backfield. Senior defensive backs Caleb Autrey and Quinton White, senior safety Crishun Adams and junior safeties B.T. Sanders and Corey Christensen are all back. Senior linebacker Jacob Prim, who had 76 tackles in 2010, will lead a linebacking corps with seniors D’Marsjae Casey and Zach Hartmann and junior Dantrell Clark.

With inexperience in the trenches and at quarterback, some have considered the Lions as an “under the radar” team. Watson said he relishes being considered the underdog.

“We want to go play. Whether the media picks us first or last it doesn’t matter. What we want to to do is go out and play our best,” he said. “If we can be confident that when we go out we have prepared as hard as we can prepare and we played as hard as we can play, then we’ll let the chips fall as they may.

“We want to be the hunter, not the hunted. I definitely feel we are in that position.”

Autrey and Adams share Watson’s sentiment.

“I like being under the radar, being the underdog,” Autrey said. “If we’re underdogs, that’s our motivation.”

“We’re not worried about if the defensive line will give up extra yards,” Adams said. “We’re not worried about anything, to be honest.”

After playing at Ladd-Peebles against Murphy on Thursday, the Lions open 6A, Region 2 play at Robertsdale on Sept. 2. They host defending 6A champ Daphne on Sept. 9 and play five of their last six games at home.