DON McDERMOTT / PVT The new-look Pahrump Valley High School Trojans' football team starts with the uniforms. Travis Ott, 9, a senior quarterback, is wearing the new home-game uniform, while Mike Colucci, 56, a senior lineman-linebacker, sports the travel gear. Advertisement

A new coach ... definitely.

An upbeat attitude ... yes.

Even some snappy new uniforms ... cool ...

Will those factors (and some others) mean more success on the field?

Pahrump Valley High School football fans will get their first answers tonight.

The Trojans, with Brian Hug as coach, travel to Las Vegas to play Class 4-A Chaparral to face the Cowboys, who were a Sunrise Regional team in 2005. Kickoff is at 7 for the game, which matches the Southern Nevada Class 3-A Trojans against only the second 4-A team they have played in a season opener. (Las Vegas Mojave prevailed 34-22 in the 1998 opener).

Pahrump Valley's home opener is next Friday, when the Trojans tangle with Chino, Calif., Don Lugo. Something is new at the PVHS stadium; healthy turf was planted the length of midfield to replace worn-out, run-down grass that was well past its usefulness.

Hug, who coached Port Huron, Mich., to the Great Lakes Indoor Football League regular-season and playoff championships earlier this summer, is the new sidelines boss for the Trojans. He's installed a veer offensive and 4-3 defensive schemes for a team that now has at least 104 players eligible, including 50 at the varsity level.

The probable starters include senior quarterback Travis Ott, who will work in a backfield that will have Vandale Wright at tailback and Benji DeSantiago at fullback. Wideouts will be James Chapman and Jeremiah Ward, with Zack Weldon at tight end.

The interior line will have Tito Ceballos at center, with Mike Colucci and Daniel Miller at the guards, and Reynaldo Veloz and Frank Lopez at the tackles.

Defensively, look for Chapman and Ott to be the safeties, with Wright and Elias Armendariz at the corners. Steve Kelley, Colucci and DeSantiago are penciled in at linebackers, with Weldon, Miller, Steve Cummings and Ward up front.

Key backups at the moment include Kelley at quarterback, Rocky Spencer at running back, and Trent Ward at wide receiver.

"I expect the players to do what I want them to do," said Hug, who is the defensive coordinator and has named former Las Vegas Bishop Gorman assistant coach as his offensive coordinator. "We have some size and we have some speed."

And to quote an old cliche, Hug is concerned only about the team he is playing this week -- Chaparral.

"I can't be thinking about Don Lugo ... or Spring Creek ... or any of the league teams we will play," said Hug. "We have to be concerned only with Chaparral."