The 2014 football season comes a day earlier for Goshen.

The Eagles will trade in the Friday night lights for Thursday as they head to McKenzie for a preseason scrimmage tonight.

Goshen has made the trip to Butler County before, and brought back a 24-14 win in the regular season finale last year.

Eagle head coach Bart Snyder wants to see his team make improvements and be ready for the season opener against Pike County next week.

“I want to see a lot of consistency in our guys down there tomorrow night,” Snyder said. “We want to make sure they are lining up right, executing and giving it their best. Sometimes there are folks out there that are just better than you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t give it 110 percent.”

The preseason tangle against the 1A Tigers will also be the first game action for several of Goshen’s key players, including quarterback Kendrez White.

White, an experienced player at receiver and running back, is getting his first taste of calling the signals. The Eagles will also have three brand new offensive linemen on the starting unit, and Snyder feels the scrimmage will be a big “mental night” for his team.

“I want to see out guys gain some confidence about themselves,” Snyder said. “We don’t want our kids to get their heads down and get discouraged in the first part of the season. We have an extremely tough opening stretch, but we will be better for it in the long run. We have gotten better since our first day, and we are going to get even better over the next few weeks.”

Kickoff is set for 7 P.m. at Williams-Vickery Field in McKenzie.