When Brentwood plays Maplewood Richmond Heights at home in football in the second game of the season, on Aug. 31, two old Hazelwood foes will be facing each other.

Brentwood’s Keith Herring is the past head coach for Hazelwood West, and MRH’s new head coach, Rich Nixon, came from Hazelwood Central.

“I went against him when he was at Hazelwood Central,” Herring said. “What he’s going to do, I imagine will be pretty close to Hazelwood Central. We butted heads a few times.”

See more Brentwood practice photos on Maplewood-Brentwood Patch Facebook.

Not only that, but MRH line coach J.C. Kime was a line coach at Hazelwood Central, so Herring said he has some ideas on the Blue Devil defense too.

Herring said he has lots of guys coming back who have worked hard in the summer.

“We’re still young again, that’s a good thing,” he said. “We played a lot of young kids last year. Those kids all got experience and they’re back again.” His roster is heavy in juniors.

He’s happy to have seniors Jordan Groth and Rekardo Owens returning. He said the line is about 50-50 with returners and he has five or six new faces on defense.

Herring said he’s looking forward to the season.

"We’re going to try to top last year,” he said. “The kids saw what we could do last year, and they’re excited about it.”

Brentwood won its district game but lost to MRH in Sectionals 7-0.

See Patch stories on last year's season:

• In Round Two, MRH Barely Escapes Brentwood in Nailbiter
• Rivalry Rematch: MRH, Brentwood Meet in Playoffs on Monday
• Crowd Rushes Field Following Brentwood Win
• Kicker Caragher is Clutch for Brentwood Eagles