Former Warren head coach Jimmy Peyton signals to players during last year’s game against Marietta in Vincent. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

VINCENT — Logan head coach Jimmy Peyton spent the past three years as head coach of the Warren Warriors before resigning after last season to take the Chieftains head coaching position.

Friday night Peyton will make his return to Warrior Field as Logan will do battle with the Warriors with both teams in need of a win after starting the season 0-2.

Peyton posted a record of 15-16 in his three years at Warren and led the Warriors to the post season last year when they finished with a 7-4 mark.

New Warrior head coach Jason Gandee served as an assistant under Peyton making this an interesting week two match-up.

The Warriors were dealt a tough break when they lost starting quarterback Braylen Murray to a collar bone injury that he suffered in their week one loss at Circleville (16-15).

Waterford’s Trevin Zimmer (10) carries the ball during last week’s game against Caldwell. (Photo by Patricia Miller)

Murray finished that game with the injury but tests after the game left him on the sidelines for an undetermined amount of time.

With little time for much practice at all, senior Tanner Pepper took over behind center against Morgan last week and performed adequately in the Warriors 28-13 loss.

Pepper seemed to get more comfortable as the game went along as he finished with 149 yards rushing and a touchdown on 19 attempts.

The former wide receiver struggled a bit in the passing game as he completed just 2-of-11 pass attempts for 36 yards and four interceptions.

Warrior running back Eric Carr was limited to just 37 yards rushing last week against Morgan after opening the season with a 200-yard rushing performance against Circleville.

The start to the 2025 season for Logan has been a struggle to say the least as they have suffered lop-sided losses to Athens (41-0) and Nelsonville-York (46-7) in the first two weeks.

Key players to watch for the Chieftains include quarterback Carson Tootle, running back Ethan Courtney and receiver Ross Walker Jr.

Last season in Logan the Warriors downed the Chieftains 17-7.

ATHENS (2-0) at MARIETTA (0-2)

The Marietta Tigers will have their work cut out for them as they try once again to capture their first win of the season and the first win for their new head coach Mike Kupfner when they host the high-powered Athens Bulldogs at Don Drumm Stadium Friday night.

Athens has won their two games against Logan and Paint Valley by a combined score of 89-0.

Bulldogs running back Anthony Sutton is off to an incredible start as he has rushed for over 200 yards and three touchdowns in each of the Bulldog’s two wins.

Last week Sutton did all of his damage in the first half of the game.

Daniel Heightland is the quarterback for Athens while on defense Weston Wheatley has intercepted four passes in the first two games to lead the Bulldogs defense to eight consecutive scoreless quarters to begin the season.

After falling to Morgan (31-16) at home in their season opener the Tigers lost a heart-breaker last week to John Marshall (23-21) on a last second field goal.

Marietta quarterback Trenton McVey had connected with Owen Riley on a 24-yard touchdown pass with eight minutes to play in the game to give the orange and black the lead.

McVey scored earlier on an 18-yard touchdown run as did Kobe Alexander on a 3-yard run in the third quarter.

Last season at Joe Burrow Stadium in The Plains the Bulldogs doubled up the Tigers 42-21.

WATERFORD (2-0) at SHENANDOAH (0-2)

SARAHSVILLE — Second-year head coach Mac McLean and his Shenandoah Zeps will try for the third time to notch their first win of the season when they welcome a very solid Waterford Wildcat team Friday night.

The Wildcats have lived up to their preseason promise so far with wins over Vinton County (50-12) and Caldwell (21-6) at home in the season’s first two weeks.

The Eric McCutcheon- coached ‘Cats will hit the road for the first time led by junior quarterback Hayden Jones who did more damage with his arm last week than he did with his legs.

The Caldwell defense limited Jones to just 18 yards rushing on 14 carries but he completed 13-of-25 pass attempts for 137 yards and a pair of touchdowns both going to Trevin Zimmer.

Kameron Johnson accounted for the other Wildcat score on a 4-yard touchdown run while leading the Wildcats in rushing with 35 yards on 14 carries.

The Zeps lost their opener on the road at Edison (35-14) before dropping a heart-breaker (22-20) at home last Friday to Bridgeport.

The Bulldogs rallied to score 15 points in the fourth quarter to stun the Zeps in last weeks game.

Twin brothers Cole and Caden Vanfossen combined for 184 yards to lead the way for Shenandoah.

Caden rushed for 121 yards on 18 carries while Cole carried the ball 7 times for 63 yards.

Ethan Cutlip and Brody Brown also score rushing touchdowns for the Zepplins.

Last season in Waterford, the Wildcats downed the Zeps 35-7.

FRONTIER (1-1) at CLAY-BATTELLE (0-1)

BLACKSVILLE, W.Va. — If a play or two would have gone their way the Frontier Cougars could very well be sitting 2-0 as they hit the road for the first time to take on the Clay-Battelle Cee Bees Friday night.

Frontier opened the season with a convincing 36-13 win over Bridgeport before dropping a close one to Miller (20-14) last Friday night.

The Cougars spotted Miller an early 12-0 lead before rallying back to take the lead thanks to a 59-yard touchdown pass from Avery Powell to Austyn Kephart and a 20-yard run by Caleb Kirkpatrick.

Unfortunately for the Damon Metheney-coached Cougars, Miller went back in front with less than five minutes to play and then held Frontier off the rest of the way to secure the win.

The Cee Bees drew a tough draw to begin the 2025 season last week when they took on a Cameron team that played for a state championship a season ago.

Clay-Battelle held their own against the Dragons before coming up six points short (22-16).

Frontier will need to stop Cee-Bee quarterback Corey Coen who completed 9-of-24 pass attempts last week for 121 yards and a touchdown to Braden Ponceroff.

Ponceroff caught six passes for 92 yards and also made his presence known on defense as he had a fumble recovery for another Miller score.

The two teams did not meet in 2024.

ALEXANDER (1-1) at BELPRE (1-1)

BELPRE — The Belpre Golden Eagles will play there first home game of the season Friday night riding on a high-note after a dominating 34-6 win over the Federal Hocking Lancers last Friday night.

After dropping their season opener to Fisher Catholic (47-12), Belpre head coach Kevin Welsh had to like what he saw in Friday’s big win over FedHock.

Belpre is led by quarterbacks Malik Currie and Carson Woodford as well as running back Alex Parker and receiver Malaki Eason.

The Spartans got off to a tough start with an 18-15 loss to Miller but rebounded nicely last week with a 47-0 shellacking of Sciotoville East.

Last season in Albany, the Spartans blanked Belpre 44-0.

CALDWELL (1-1) at TUSLAW (1-1)

MASSILLON — The Caldwell Redskins will get to take a look at a brand new opponent Friday night when they make the trip up north to take on the Tuslaw Mustangs in a battle of 1-1 teams.

The Mustangs lost a 3-0 game in week one to Smithville in a defensive struggle before hammering Chippewa last week to the tune of a 38-7 final.

Key players for Tuslaw include Patrick Fox, Aiden Witzke and Kaden Lawson.

The Chance Rucker-led Redskins looked great in their season opener when they opened their new home with a 38-0 win over Buckeye Trail but struggled last week on the road at Waterford (21-6).

The turnover bug played a huge role in the Redskins demise as they turned the ball over six times.

Quarterback Izic Cool in just his second varsity start struggled against Waterford as he was picked off five times while completing 11-of-27 passes for 125 yards.

The Redskins were unable to run the ball at all against the Wildcat defense as they finished the game with negative yardage on 19 carries.

Other key players for the Redskins include running back Gavin Leake as well as receivers Silas Cain and Brody Chandler.

Chandler accounted for the Redskins points last week when he returned an interception 80 yards for a touchdown in the final quarter.

NEW LEXINGTON (2-0) at MORGAN (2-0)

McCONNELVILLE — After big wins over Marietta (31-16) and Warren (28-13) in the season’s first two weeks the upstart Morgan Raiders will look to stay perfect Friday night when they open league play with a visit from the New Lexington Panthers.

The Panthers have gotten off to a great start of their own with comfortable wins over Fairfield Union (26-6) and Philo (37-20).

In last week’s win over Philo, Paul Stenson rushed for 186 yards and four touchdowns on 20 carries while quarterback Lane Ratliff and running back Colton Mathias combined for 100 rushing yards to lead the Panthers attack.

Morgan overcame five turnovers by forcing the Warriors to give the ball back to them four times as they increased their winning streak to four games dating back to last season.

The Seth Brown-coached Raiders got a huge game from junior running back Tanner Bankes who rushed for 209 yards on 21 carries.

Bankes scored three touchdowns in the first half and Gage Roberts hauled ina six-yard scoring pass from Haiden Pauley to account for the other Raider touchdown.

Morgan will be looking to avenge a 30-0 loss they suffered to New Lexington a season ago.

MONROE CENTRAL (0-2) at RIVER (2-0)

HANIBAL — A pair of rivals heading in completely different directions to open the 2025 season will do battle Friday night when the winless Monroe Central Seminoles pay a visit to the unbeaten River Pilots.

The ‘Noles have struggled out of the gate with losses to Liberty Union (21-20) and Bellaire (44-27).

Key players for the Jonathan Calder-led Seminoles include quarterback Cooper Howell, receiver Gabriel Eing and running back A.J. Rutter.

The Pilots kicked off their season with a 36-12 win over the Perry Traditional Academy and backed that up last week with a 21-12 win over Buckeye Local.

Key players to keep an eye on for River include Tray Larrick, Braden Johnson, Wyatt Stalder and Trail Thompson.

Last season in Woodsfield the Seminoles routed River 52-6.