TAHOLAH — The Taholah Chitwhins, champions of the Coastal 1B 8-man high school football league last year, will finally start their 2017 campaign at 7 p.m. this Friday at arch rival Naselle.

After going 4-0 en route to a 5-3 overall season, the Chitwhins lost eight of 20 players to graduation. Combined with some academic ineligibilities, the situation had fourth-year coach Billy James and athletic director Karl Braden unsure whether the small North Coast school would even field a team.

Braden said they still wanted to put some football together for the team, the school and the community, so he burned the phone lines to salvage a schedule among the handful of schools across the region playing the 8-man version of the game. Compounding the difficulties is that Wishkah Valley and Lake Quinault are not fielding teams this year.

James and first-year assistant coach Jordan St. Germaine started working with several kids, and with school back after Labor Day, the Chitwhin squad now numbers 16, including three seniors.

The first two games had to be forfeited, to Oakville and Mary M. Knight, and the remaining dates are subject to change. After playing at Naselle this Friday, they will play at Oakville at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6; at Neah Bay Friday, Oct. 13, time TBD; at home against Naselle at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 21; and at home against Washington School for the Deaf on Thursday, Oct. 26 at 1 p.m.

Missing five weeks due to ineligibility means “we’ve had a whole month to get everybody up to speed,” James said. “The transition from junior high to high school is different for these kids. There’s no C squad, no junior varsity, its straight into varsity.”

The Chitwhins were an entertaining squad last season, scoring 44 or more points in five different games. They are less experienced this year.

”We’re super young now,” James said. “I see a grind. We are limited with the number of guys who are at that level… they’re learning… if we can get them up to speed we could do some of the stuff we did last year. They see the importance of academics; that’s what we’ve been pushing the last few weeks: get it done in the classroom first so they can get it done out here.”

James mentioned five “players to watch,” starting with the returning backfield duo of quarterback Zach Cain and running back Jesse Purdy. Also noted were RB Deven James, WR Jayson Mowitch and lineman Jack Young.

What he enjoys most about coaching, James said, is “the energy, the rawness that they bring, the willingness to get better.”

“They’re only gonna grow, they’re only gonna get better,”St. Germaine added. “That’s the exciting part of coaching.”

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Taholah’s first and only state championship, in 1997.

“We’ve been having a lot of those guys come to practice,” including volunteer coach Vic James.