Matt Tabor stood in front of the small gathering of soon-to-be Benton senior football players Wednesday afternoon with a unique message.

"I know how you like to flirt with the girls in the hallway," the new football coach said. "But I need you to hit on some dudes."

With those words, Tabor quickly showed what the first order of business for the new era of Cardinals' football would be: recruitment. Numbers sagged this past season -- the last one in Derek Wilson's five-year tenure -- and Benton did not field a junior varsity program.

Tabor is smart enough to know involvement will be the most critical need for his first team at Benton. He probably learned as much in this year in his one and only season as an assistant at Lafayette.

After spending four seasons as head coach at Bishop LeBlond, Tabor helped Paul Woolard's first team at Lafayette show a dramatic increase in participation. The result: Lafayette won two games. Not impressive unless you know it was the Fighting Irish's best win total since 2002.

Tabor and Woolard helped show progress, and now Tabor will try to recreate those results on his own. We'll see where both programs are this year in Week 10 when Benton and Lafayette meet in the district finale.

For the first time since high school, Tabor and Woolard will take the field as opponents. A little intrigue? I think so.

"It won't be about us when it gets down to it," Woolard said. "It'll be all about the kids and playing in that city rivalry. Maybe this adds something to it, but I don't know."