MIDDLEBORO — While the glory days of high school and college football inevitably end, a local team provides an outlet for athletes who are still looking to get their fix of competition.

And even though the players have received their diplomas and entered the workforce, there is still no walking allowed on the football field.

The Middleboro Cobras, a semi-professional football team sponsored by the Mitchell Memorial Club, are back after a year off. They have a young, new-look team that is ready to take the New England Football League by storm.

“My goal is to create a culture,” said first-year Cobras Head Coach Justin Pike. “These guys have an opportunity and a network of other like-minded guys they can grow and learn with. These guys I coach with, we didn’t know each other when we started playing, and now they’re my best friends. We want to create an environment like that for these guys.”

Players come from Middleboro, Lakeville, and surrounding communities, according to Pike.

This season, the Cobras are bringing back their Mitchell Memorial Club maroon jerseys for the first time since 1996, matching the team’s maroon cobra logo.

Kids in the area “grew up with the culture of, when you’re done with high school and college football, you go play for Middleboro,” Pike said. “You always got to hear and learn about the Cobras.”

Pike, who spent 15 years playing for the Cobras, is a former Middleboro High School football coach and is entering his first season coaching the team. In addition to coaching the high school team, he has coached strength and conditioning at other area schools, owns a gym in town, and teaches Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

“I’m always coaching,” Pike said. “But I’ve never been a head coach at this level.”

Around 95 percent of the roster is made up of new players, said Garrett Perry, an offensive lineman who is one of the longest-tenured players on the team. He also works as a custodian at Nichols Middle School and is a professional wrestler on weekends.

Perry appreciates the smaller scale of semi-professional football, where fans can get an up-close view of the game and hear everything on the field.

“When you go to a big professional game, you’re sitting like a mile away,” Perry said. “Here, you’re so close to the action that you can hear everything. It sometimes sounds like a car wreck out there.”

The Cobras dominated the New England Football League in the 2000s and 2010s, winning a number of championships. Pike played for those teams with other members of his coaching staff.

“We all played together, won championships together,” Pike said. “So it was important for us to get the program back on track.”

This season, Pike wants to start the team’s bid to return to that stature.

“We want these brand-new guys to be here for the next 10, 15 years like we were,” Pike said. “If we can get these guys all to come back next year, we’ve won. That’s the plan. And to bring their friends, too.”

The team plays its games at Battis Field on Jackson Street, known as the “snake pit” for Cobras games. Tickets cost $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and veterans, and children under 10 may attend for free.

The next Cobras home game is on Saturday, July 8 at 7:30 p.m. against the Mass Warriors from Wayland.