Morgan’s McGwire Winner (17) runs with the ball as Marietta’s Daymeon Gulley (3) tries to track him down during last week’s game at Don Drumm Stadium. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

McCONNELSVILLE — The Warren Warriors will look to square their record at 1-1 Friday night when they visit the 1-0 Morgan Raiders.

The Warriors lost their season opener on the road at Circleville 16-15 last Friday in the first game for new head coach Jason Gandee.

The two teams traded the lead back and forth before a third quarter touchdown run by Raymond Ezell put the Tigers ahead for good.

Warren got a huge play in the fourth quarter when Kolton Venham blocked a punt out of the end zone for a safety to cut the lead to a single-point but the Warriors came up empty down the stretch.

Eric Carr had a great game for the Warriors as he rushed for 213 yards on 31 carries while quarterback Braylon Murray ran for a touchdown and passed for another in his varsity debut.

Murray ran the ball eight times for 45 yards while completing 8-of-17 pass attempts for 91 yards including a 45-yard touchdown pass to Tanner Pepper.

The Raiders come into the game on a high note after traveling to Don Drumm Stadium and handing the Marietta Tigers a 31-16 defeat, their first win over the Tigers in 20 years.

Morgan broke open a tight football game by scoring 21 points in the final quarter to win going away.

Tanner Bankes carried the ball 15 times for a team-leading 42 yards for the Raiders while also catching an 18-yard touchdown pass from Morgan quarterback Haiden Pauley.

Pauley completed 11-of-17 pass attempts for 109 yards and a pair of touchdowns while carrying the ball 11 times for 47 yards.

Last season in Vincent the Warriors downed the Raiders 24-21.

MARIETTA (0-1) at JOHN MARSHALL (0-0)

GLENDALE, W.Va. — The Marietta Tigers will try once again to capture their first win for new head coach Mike Kupfner when they travel to John Marshall to take on the Monarchs Friday night.

The Tigers struggled early offensively in their season opening loss to Morgan before showing some life in the second half when they scored a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns.

Running back Kobe Alexander rushed the ball 18 time for 108 yards and a touchdown to lead the Tiger offense.

Quarterback Trenton McVey completed 11-of-18 pass attempts for 137 yards including a 17-yard touchdown pass to Will Tornes.

The game will be the season opener for the Monarchs who went 2-8 a season ago.

Last year in Marietta, the Tigers blanked the Monarchs 10-0.

CALDWELL (1-0) at WATERFORD (1-0)

WATERFORD — Both Caldwell and Waterford got off to great starts in their respective openers last week and now the two will battle one another in a highly anticipated early season showdown Friday night.

The Redskins blanked Buckeye Trail 38-0 as they opened their new stadium in grand fashion.

Quarterback Izic Cool fired three touchdown passes in his first varsity start behind center for the Chance Rucker-coached Redskins.

Cool completed 4-of-9 pass attempts for 115 yards including touchdown passes to Brody Chandler, Adam Bender and Grady Mazgay.

The Wildcats start was equally impressive thanks to an outstanding defensive performance as well as continued great play from junior quarterback Hayden Jones.

The D-7 Wildcats rolled to a 50-12 win over D-4 Vinton County in a game in which their defense allowed just 37 total yards and four Vikings first downs.

Just nine seconds into the second quarter Jones had made his presence felt by running for a pair of touchdowns, throwing for two more while intercepting a pass on defense and returning it 41 yards for a touchdown.

The Wildcats will be looking for revenge after falling to the Redskins 26-14 last season at the Noble County Fairgrounds.

FORT FRYE (0-1) at WEST MUSKINGUM (1-0)

ZANESVILLE — The Fort Frye Cadets haven’t lost back-to-back football games to begin a season since way back in 2008.

The Eric Huck-coached Cadets will have their hands full to keep that streak intact Friday night when they travel to Zanesville to take on the West Muskingum Tornadoes.

The Tornadoes started their season last Thursday with a convincing 42-0 win over Lakewood one season after they went 9-3 including a pair of wins in the post season.

Carter Smith got West Muskingum off to a great start when he returned the opening kick-off of the season 97-yards for a touchdown.

The Tornadoes were able to exploit Lakewood with several explosive plays including an 80-yard touchdown run by Braxton Brownrigg.

For the second straight season the Cadets opened against Barnesville and just like last year Fort Frye dropped a lop-sided contest to the Shamrocks.

The usually stingy Cadet defense allowed Barnesville to pile up 286 rushing yards.

Offensively the Cadets struggled a bit as well as they totaled just 160 total yards in the game.

Running back Tyce Beardsley led the Cadets in rushing with 9 carries for 29 yards.

The two teams did not play one another in 2024.

MILLER (1-0) at FRONTIER (1-0)

NEW MATAMORAS — The Frontier Cougars opened the 2025 season a day earlier than most teams last Thursday with a 36-13 win over Beallsville.

The Cougars will look to make it two in a row Friday when they play host to the Miller Falcons at Cougar Field.

The Damon Metheney-coached Cougars will be looking to pay the Falcons back after suffering a week-two defeat (35-14) last season in Corning.

Frontier got a huge game offensively from senior Caleb Kirkpatrick who carried the ball 24 times for 193 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Senior Avery Powell made his first start behind center for the Cougars and completed 3-of-6 pass attempts for 81 yards.

The Cougars scored first on a bit of trickery as Davyn Ferrell connected with Aaden Bills on a 31-yard touchdown pass.

Bills caught three passes in the game for 106 yards while Hunter Ruble returned a kick-off 85-yards for a touchdown in the second period.

Miller opened its season with an 18-15 win over Alexander.

Zander Bice rushed for 170-yards and a touchdown to lead Miller who also got a pick six from Nick Thompson.

BELPRE (0-1) at FEDERAL HOCKING (1-0)

STEWART — The Federal Hocking Lancers opened their 2025 season in grand fashion Friday night with a convincing 58-26 win over Green.

Friday the Lancers will welcome the Belpre Eagles who will be looking for their first win of the season after last weeks 47-12 loss to Fisher Catholic.

The 58 points scored last week were the most Federal Hocking had put on the board since 2013.

The win was the first for new Lancer head coach Dominic Branch.

The Lancers held an 8-6 lead at halftime before exploding for 50 points in the second half.

Running back Gabe Bray had a game to remember for the Lancers as he carried the ball 9 times for 110 yards and a touchdown while also scoring on a punt return and an interception return on defense.

Last year’s tilt between the two was a real shootout with the Lancers winning 48-40 in overtime.

BRIDGEPORT (0-1) at SHENANDOAH (0-1)

SARAHSVILLE — Things didn’t go that great for either the Bridgeport Bulldogs or the Shenandoah Zeps as they both suffered lop-sided losses in their respective season openers last week.

The two will meet in Shenandoah Friday night after not playing one another in 2024.

Bridgeport fell to Frontier 36-13 last Thursday night, while the Zpes suffered a 35-14 loss at the hands of Edison a day later.

The Bulldogs two scores came on a 10-yard pass from Jaki Threet to Dylan Charlton and a 7-yard run by A.J. Bishop.

Quarterback Brody Brown completed nine-of-24 pass attempts last week for 153 yards but was intercepted three times by the Edison defense.

Ethan Cutlip led the Shenandoah ground game with 64 yards on 13 carries while Caden Vanfossen carried the ball 10 times for 59 yards.

BELLAIRE (1-0) at MONROE CENTRAL (0-1)

WOODSFIELD — The Monroe Central Seminoles will look to rebound from a late, season opening loss last week to Liberty Union when they host the Bellaire Big Reds.

The ‘Noles allowed the Lions to score the game winning touchdown in the final two minutes of the game and went on to suffer a 21-20 defeat.

Seminole quarterback Cooper Howell ran for 162 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries while A.J. Rutter rushed the ball six times for 53 yards against Liberty Union.

Things went a bit smoother in the opener for Bellaire as they downed Buckeye Local 31-6 to kick off their 2025 campaign.

Quarterback Michael Dippell threw for two touchdowns while Rylin McMahon ran for a pair for the Big Reds.

The two did not play each other last season.