For a second straight week, Richmond will see a team ranked in Class 4A’s top 10.

New Palestine visits Lyboult Field this Friday as the Red Devils take on the No. 10 Dragons at 7 p.m.

Both teams have first-year head coaches, and this will be the first home game for Richmond’s Matt Holeva in that role.

“It’s exciting. It’s exciting to come back to Lyboult Field as head coach and play a home game against a great opponent,” Holeva said.

“I think it’s kind of an exciting time for Richmond football at all levels. I just hope that we have a great, big home crowd. The boys have been working hard, and hopefully people come out and watch them.”

Charlie Hill is in his first season as New Palestine’s head coach after being hired in July to take over the program. He was previously an assistant coach with the Dragons.

New Palestine won last year’s meeting, the first-ever between the two squads, 29-7 at Warren Central.

Both teams come into this year’s matchup at 0-1. RHS dropped a 35-6 road decision at East Central in Week 1, while the Dragons fell 26-20 at Whiteland.

Matt Siergiej ran for 121 yards last week for the Dragons, while quarterback Blake Luker threw for 107.

“It’s a similar animal to last year — big, strong physical kids and they have some good team speed,” Holeva said. “They lost last week to a nice Whiteland ballclub. I know expectations are high. We’re going to have to go out and obviously play well against these guys.

“They’re just a nice ballclub and we need to be ready to go.”

Justyn Curtis hit Jacob Flood for a 49-yard touchdown for Richmond’s score last week.

Holeva saw positives in the loss, including some strong play from the RHS defense and fight from this team throughout the contest.

“If anything, on defense we played well enough to get them behind the chains at times,” Holeva said. “We have to be able to get off the field. Third and long, third and medium, we have to be ready to get off the field.

“I think the big play we weren’t as susceptible to. That third down and medium, that’s a big play. We need to be able to ratchet it up a little bit.”