North Bend football coach Rick Taylor is a highly regarded teacher and talented coach. He also has extensive construction experience and is a licensed minister who often performs weddings. If that isn’t enough, he could be a stand-up comedian as well.

During the third-annual joint Marshfield-North Bend booster club luncheon Thursday, Taylor had a series of one-liners as he and Marshfield coach Justin Ainsworth talked about their teams and tonight’s Civil War football game.

Last year, Taylor said at the meeting that his wife doesn’t like his trademark option offense because she doesn’t think it’s fair to act like you’re going to give a ball to a running back and then not give it to him.

This year, he said North Bend is building its offense from the line backward, so his team has the quarterback keeper and wedge play figured out — obviously not all the Bulldogs know with a returning quarterback and veteran backfield.

He noted that last year’s game was close until the fourth quarter — Marshfield scored the final 25 points for a 31-9 win — and said he had talked with Ainsworth about just playing three quarters this year.

Later, when Ainsworth was taking questions from the booster club members, Taylor was the only person to raise his hand. His question: “Do you have any trick plays planned tomorrow night?”

Taking Taylor’s joking in stride, Ainsworth said all Marshfield has been working on is the dive, a simple running play up the middle.

Taylor wasn’t all in jest Thursday, and he was serious about the value of the Civil War matchup, an OSAA endowment game that allows the two teams a full contest before their regular-season openers next week.

“It’s a great game,” he said, referring both to the chance for an early game and the cordial relationship the two schools share.

Taylor spoke fondly of his team’s Big Brother Camp, which included younger students in the school district and had about 120 participants. He also said he’s happy with the progress of his squad, but he can’t wait to see how they play tonight.

“We’ll learn a lot about ourselves,” Taylor said.

Ainsworth, in turn, said he’s looking forward to the game after the teams have been through two weeks of practicing against themselves.

“We’re excited to hit someone in the wrong-colored jersey,” he said.

Ainsworth said the Pirates are off to a strong start in practice, which he attributed to the large senior class and the eight team captains.

“The senior leaders are doing a great job,” he said. “It makes my job easier as head coach.”

Ainsworth also talked about how privileged he feels to follow legendary Kent Wigle, who retired last spring, and to coach the Pirates. Ainsworth is just the fourth Marshfield head coach in the last half-century.

“The legacy, the history is amazing,” said Ainsworth, who was a defensive back on Marshfield’s state championship team in 1992 and was an assistant coach the past six seasons. “Marshfield football has an aura to it.

“Following in Kent’s footsteps is a great opportunity.”

Tonight’s game starts at 7 p.m. at Pete Susick Stadium. Admission is $6 for adults and $4 for students.

Tonight is the first of five preseason games for each school before league play starts the second week of October.

For North Bend, it’s also the only game in Coos County this month. The Bulldogs are at Newport, North Eugene and Phoenix the next three weeks, before hosting Sweet Home on Oct. 2.

Marshfield, meanwhile, plays four playoff teams from a year ago and traditional Class 5A power Ashland. The Pirates host Marist next week, then visit Ashland, Grants Pass and Jefferson, the final game a rematch from last year’s playoffs.