Warren’s Jayda Murray, center, attacks the basket as Fort Frye’s Aubrie Lang, left, defends during a game last year at Warriors Coliseum. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

VINCENT — The Clash at the Coliseum returns this weekend as several area boys and girls basketball teams will call Warrior Coliseum home for some early-season hoops action.

Along with host Warren, Fort Frye, Waterford, Belpre, Frontier, Caldwell, Shenandoah, Monroe Central, Federal Hocking, Eastern, and others all will be represented at the annual event, which began in 2022.

“We’re excited about doing that again,” said Warren boys basketball coach Blane Maddox, whose squad will open up with Logan on Saturday. “It’s been a great thing locally. We try to get as many local teams as we can and give people the opportunity to watch basketball all day long. We try to make it a great environment and showcase for high school players.”

The Warriors will face the Chieftains on opening night before going back-to-back with Portsmouth West on Saturday.

“It’ll be very challenging for us,” said Maddox, whose team will look much different this season after graduating nine seniors.

The Warren girls, who are 2-0 to start the season, also will be playing Logan and Portsmouth West both nights.

“We love hosting it,” said Warren head coach Brad Venham. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s so worth it. It’s a great atmosphere. There’s a lot of great schools coming to play. It’s a cool opportunity to play two good opponents.”

A pair of defending state champions appear on the docket.

The Mason Lang-coached Monroe Central boys kick off the event against Eastern at 10 a.m. Friday. That game will be followed by Waterford vs. Philo boys at 11:30, and then the Waterford girls — who captured their second state crown in four years — will square off against Caldwell at 1 p.m..

The remainder of the evening looks like this: Caldwell vs. Southern (boys), 2:30 p.m.; South Webster vs. Trimble (boys); Warren vs. Logan (girls), 5:30 p.m.; Warren vs. Logan (boys), 7 p.m.

Saturday’s slate is as follows: Frontier vs. Federal Hocking (boys), 10 a.m.; Fort Frye vs. Federal Hocking (girls), 11:30 a.m.; Fort Frye vs. Morgan (boys), 1 p.m.; Belpre vs. Philo (girls), 2:30 p.m.; Belpre vs. Shenandoah (boys), 4 p.m.; Warren vs. Portsmouth West (boys), 5:30 p.m.; Warren vs. Portsmouth West (girls), 7 p.m.

For any college football fans who are worried about missing the big game Saturday, worry not — the Ohio State-Michigan matchup will be shown on the big screen in the main lobby.

“Being a fan of basketball, it’s a great two days,” Venham said. “We’ve got both gyms going at the same time with JV games at the old high school gym. It’s a great weekend and we love hosting. The people who help us put this one are some of the best in the state.”

NOTE: The Warren boys will hold a food drive during their home game against Marietta on Dec. 5. The team is asking fans to bring a food item that will be donated to The Gospel Mission Food Pantry in Marietta. Warren’s varsity team will deliver the items gathered and go shopping to purchase more items for the food pantry.