Scouting Libertyville at Barrington

Libertyville (4-5) at Barrington (3-6)

When: 7:30 p.m. today at Barrington Community Stadium

Last year's opener: Libertyville d. Barrington 22-21

Outlook: Two perennially strong programs hope this will be the start of a rebound from rare losing seasons. The big change is both head coaches - Barrington's Joe Sanchez and Libertyville's Randy Kuceyeski - are running the offenses this year. And the Wildcats are going from a wing-T to a spread with QB A.J. Schurr (1,100 yards passing) and big receivers in 6-5 Jeremy Birck and 6-4 Andrew O'Sullivan. "It always comes down to the wire and seems to come down to the last possession where somebody has the ball with a chance to win," Sanchez said. "Last year we were up two scores into the fourth quarter and we had a special teams breakdown, a punt blocked and a turnover. Those are all things last year where our youth showed."