Kama Frank can hardly wait to get started.

Especially now that he’s the starting quarterback at Jefferson High School.

“I’ve been ready and waiting for it. I just have to get my chance,” said Frank, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound senior who got some playing time at the controls as a freshman, then played in other spots the past two years while now-graduated All-South Puget Sound League North Division standout Taylor Stark ran the show. “Sophomore year and junior year, there was a lot of practice and mental reps.

“Other than that, I was just waiting.”

Heading into his final year in TJ colors, Frank is hoping to show that the wait was worth it. The Raiders are coming off a dismal 2007 campaign during which they went just 1-6 in league play and 2-8 overall.

“We’re coming in with the mindset that we have a lot to prove,” Frank said. “We’re taking a challenge to get better each day, and not just going through the motions.”

Frank is taking over from a guy who certainly didn’t go through the motions last fall. Stark, who was the second-team all-league quarterback behind Federal Way’s Justin Southern, completed an eye-popping 62 percent of his passes (153 of 247) for 1,919 yards and 18 touchdowns with just four interceptions.

Matching those numbers won’t be easy. But then again, Frank won’t necessarily have to do that, because he brings another dimension to the QB’s job for the Raiders.

“Kama can run, which is something we weren’t able to do before,” second-year coach Dean Peck said. “We’re hoping to have a lot better ground game than in the past.”

In fact, that ground game managed just 1,004 yards last year, while TJ gained nearly twice that many through the air — 1,977.

For that ground game to pick up some momentum, expect speedy junior running back Trenton Pinson to set the pace. Pinson, who finished seventh in the 100 meters and fifth in the 400 at the Star Track state meet last spring, led the way on the football field for TJ in ’07 with 406 yards on 55 carries, an average of 7-plus yards per carry.

“Trent is just super fast,” Peck said of the 5-11, 185-pounder who also gets to use his speed at the cornerback position when the Raiders are on defense. “Once he gets the hang of how to use his weapons, he’ll be hard to stop.”

Part of getting the hang of it, Pinson said, is in keeping with Jefferson’s renewed emphasis on all-out, all the time.

“It may have been happening last year,” he said. “But now, it’s a lot higher importance than it was before. We’re setting a higher goal.”

That’ll be especially important in the revamped North Division, which welcomes back familiar foes Auburn and Auburn Riverside after their two-year stint at the Class 3A level. The Trojans went to the state playoffs both years, and the Ravens made it to the regional round twice in a row.

“It’s going to be pretty tough, but it’s nothing that we’re not used to,” Pinson said. “Our schedule is pretty tough every year. It’s just a bigger test.”

The Raiders believe they’re ready for it. And while optimism is easy when everyone is 0-0, they genuinely like their chances heading into Friday’s season opener at home in Federal Way Stadium against Tahoma, a perennial contender in the North.

“I think we’ll be a lot better than last year because our defense is a lot better,” Peck said. “We lost Taylor (Stark) and Bryant (Cameron, the North Division All-Purpose Player of the Year who scored a team-leading 16 touchdowns, catching 14 of those as he made 71 total receptions for 1,018 yards). But for the most part, the rest of the team is back.”

“We need to work on our run defense, but both our offense and defense are looking crisp,” Frank said. “It’s just a matter of perfecting everything.”

RAIDERS AT A GLANCE

• Coach: Dean Peck, 2nd year.

• Last season: 1-6, 7th in SPSL North, 2-8 overall.

• Offense: Spread.

• Defense: 5-2.

• Returning players (Year, name, position, height/weight): Sr. Kama Frank, QB, 6-1/185; Jr. Trenton Pinson, RB, 5-11/185; Sr. Zach Roth, OL/LB, 5-9/200; Sr. Jun Park, WR, 5-10/160.

• Key newcomers: Sr. Kenny Brown, WR, 5-11/165; Sr. Joe Mungai, WR, 5-9/155; Jr. Michael Sallee, RB, 5-9/160.

• Outlook: It’s not hard to figure what the Raiders need to do to find some more success: tighten up the defense. They had an outstanding quarterback in Taylor Stark, who was pinpoint accurate, completing 62 percent of his passes, 18 of which went for touchdowns, and only four of which were intercepted. But in five of its 10 games last year, Jefferson allowed 40-plus points, gave up 35 in another one, and 28 in two others. Coach Dean Peck said he can see already that his defense will be better, bolstered by the return of nine starters on that side of the ball. As Peck sees it, solidifying the run defense will be the key. On the offensive side, Stark graduated, as did leading receiver Bryant Cameron. But speedy Trenton Pinson is back to carry the ball, and quarterback Kama Frank also can run it. The North generally is regarded as wide open, which means someone has to emerged as the surprise contender. Could be TJ.

• Can’t-miss game: Of the first three games for the Raiders, two of them are against middle-of-the-packers from last season: the season opener at home against Tahoma on Friday (the Bears were 4-3 in 2007) and a Week 3 home game against Kentlake (3-4 last year) on Sept. 20. How Jefferson fares in those two games could go far in determining how well they’ll contend in the North Division. As always, their rivalry game against Federal Way, this one set as the regular-season finale on Halloween Night, already is circled on the calendar.

LAST FIVE YEARS

YEAR RECORD

2007 2-8

2006 1-9

2005 3-7

2004 1-8

2003 2-8

SCHEDULE

DATE OPPONENT

9-5 vs. Tahoma

9-13 at Kentridge

9-20 vs. Kentlake

9-26 at Auburn

10-4 at Auburn Riverside

10-10 vs. Kentwood

10-16 at Kent-Meridian

10-24 at Curtis

10-31 vs. Federal Way

Home games at Federal Way Stadium.

KR, K-M games at French Field.

Auburn Riverside game at Auburn Memorial Stadium.

All games 7 p.m.