One thing the new statewide football format has done is spice up the early-season nonleague contests.

Three of the 64 games on slate for Friday night pit a pair of teams in the Boston Herald’s Sweet 16 led by No. 3 St. John’s Prep hosting fourth-seeded Marshfield in a matchup of two teams that reached the state championship game a year ago.

“It’s a very difficult matchup, especially in a season opener,” said St. John’s Prep coach Brian St. Pierre. “Their staff and their players do a tremendous job with their schemes and we have a lot of respect for them. They have been a strong program traditionally and certainly in the past 3-4 years we’ve played them as their record accurately reflects.

“We have had some very competitive games with them in the past and we expect nothing different this year. We will have to play well and limit our mistakes.”

On the South Shore, No. 12 Scituate opens its season at home against No. 11 Foxboro, fresh off a Div. 5 state title. Sailors’ coach Herb Devine has never been shy about testing his team, the feeling being iron sharpens iron.

“We always like to challenge our kids, we recently scrimmaged (Div. 4 champion) Duxbury,” Devine said. “I think when you play better competition, your kids will get better. That’s what coach (Bob) Bancroft always said at Whitman-Hanson.”

Another terrific opening night matchup features a pair of Bay State Conference powers as No. 14 Milton visits sixth-seeded Needham. The Wildcats won the Div. 3 state title, while the host Rockets advanced to the Div. 1 state semifinals before losing a hard-fought contest to eventual champion Xaverian.

Elsewhere on Friday night, No. 1 Xaverian opens with a home contest against Bishop Feehan, who is capable of doing good things in Div. 2. Speaking of Div. 2, No. 5 King Philip begins defense of its state title with a juicy nonleague contest at nearby Walpole,.

Other good matchups include Mashpee at Dennis-Yarmouth, Mansfield at Everett and Norwell at Cohasset.

History is on the line in Peabody as Melrose coach Tim Morris seeks to join the 200-win club. The head coach at Melrose since 1994, Morris sports an impressive 199-110-4 record.

The marquee matchup on Saturday features a juicy non-league battle between No. 2 Catholic Memorial and reigning New York state champion Cardinal Hayes. The contest will take place at Catholic Memorial with a 1 p.m. kickoff.