Hebron Academy kicks off its football season Saturday with a lack of varsity football experience but no lack of enthusiasm.

The Lumberjacks host Proctor Academy of Andover, N.H. at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Moose Curtis begins his 36th year of leading the Lumberjacks with a 27-man roster that returns just one letterman, senior quarterback Levi Lincoln of Norway.

Coming off a 2-6 record last season, the Lumberjacks lost their only preseason game, 21-14, to Dexter Southfield last week.

“It was good. We’ve got kids that haven’t played football, some ever before and some at the varsity level,” Curtis said. “We’re doing a lot of teaching, but it’s a great group of kids. They boys listen. It’s been a good group to work with.”

Curtis is optimistic about his offense, which features a talented backfield led by Lincoln.

“Our offense is way ahead of our defense,” he said. “Levi’s a good ball-player, and one of our post-grads, Lou Caraglia, played for Austin Prep in the Boston area and he’s a good running back and linebacker, just a tough kid.”

Joining Lincoln and Caraglia as a team captain is Cristian Gumbs, whose older brothers, Greg and Jose, starred at Hebron.  Greg went on to play linebacker at Bates and graduated in May. Jose is a junior safety at Monmouth University and is the reigning Northeast Conference Defensive Player of the Year. He had 12 tackles against Maine two weeks ago.

“Cristian’s a lineman for us. He’s a very different build,” Curtis said. “He’s a 6-foot, 300 pound guard and defensive lineman. He’s a tough young man.”

Linebacker Elijah Moreshead and offensive/defensive lineman Quinn Fogarty, both of Auburn, are part of a talented sophomore class

“The bottom line is we’ve got to keep everybody healthy. We have no youngsters this year,” Curtis said. “The sophomore class is very good. I’m interested to see what we’re going to do. We’ll keep getting better. The score will tell.”

Hebron’s eight-game schedule includes two visits to Hyde School of Bath and a home game, its season finale, on Nov. 13 against Kents Hill. It also has home games Oct. 9 against Pingree and Oct. 30 hosting Holderness.