On Friday August 26 Carmel will play in the opening home game against Valparaiso. The game will begin at 8 p.m. with a tailgate beforehand in the stadium parking-lot.

Kevin Wright, Head Coach, said the team is excited to play their first home game, and to play Valparaiso.

“It’s a new opponent, as far as I know the last time [Valparaiso] played Carmel was the state championship game back in the 70’s,” Wright said. “The two teams are unfamiliar with each other… in essence they’re two very similar school, very similar programs, very similar kids, so it should be a great experience.”

Varsity defensive linemen and senior Shawn Heffern said that he too is looking forward to playing in his last home opener for Carmel.

“Being a senior you realize how special playing at home is… it’s a great stadium and experience,” Heffern said.

This year Carmel has four home games: Valparaiso on Aug. 26, Center Grove on Sep. 2,  Lawrence North on Sep. 16, and Warren Central on Sep. 30. The Warren Central game will be the Circle City Classic and played at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Wright said with the limited home games, Carmel must cherish each one. “We only [have] four home games this year, its a big deal to play a home game at Carmel. We know there is going to be a great crowd.”

Wright said while Valparaiso may be 0-1 they should not be overlooked.

“They were 13-0 going into semi-state, and Fishers knocked them off last year. They got a good core. They got  four out of five (offensive) linemen back, their whole backfield back,” said Wright. “They were disappointed last week, they got to lose to Penn. They don’t want to go into their conference 0-2 and we sure as heck don’t want to lose our home opener.”