Week 2: Tigers face Monarchs in home opener
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The Marietta Tigers will play their home opener Friday night at Don Drumm Stadium when they welcome the John Marshall Monarchs looking to rebound from a week one loss at Morgan.
The Tigers scored plenty of points but struggled defensively in their season opener as they fell to the Raiders 35-32.
Tiger quarterback Trenton McVey was solid in his first start at the varsity level completing 7-of-10 pass attempts for 88 yards while also carrying the ball 22 times for 76 yards.
The Tiger senior ran for a pair of touchdowns while tossing a 38 -yard touchdown pass to Ryker Gibeaut.
Braydon Frye picked up 76 yards rushing for the orange and black on just four carries while Gibeaut hauled in three passes for a team-high 43 yards.
Nick McGill gave the Mike Kupfner-coached Tigers a huge lift with an 87-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the second quarter.
The Marietta defense will need to improve against the run after allowing the Raiders to pick up 282 yards on the ground.
This will be the season opener for the Monarchs who finished 6-4 last year and downed the Tigers 23-21 last season in Glen Dale.
MORGAN (1-0) at WARREN (0-1)
VINCENT -- The Warren Warriors will be looking to bounce back in a big way when they renew their annual rivalry Friday night against the Morgan Raiders at Warriors Stadium.
The Jason Gandee-coached Warriors will be looking for their first points of the season after being blanked last week by Union Local 34-0.
Warren totaled just eight first downs and 134 total yards in the loss to the Jets.
Quarterback Braylen Murray completed 8-of-17 pass attempts for 59 yards.
Jayce Hilverding hauled in six of those passes for 48 yards while Connor Moore led WHS in rushing with 28 yards on five carries.
The 2026 season got off to a much better start for the Seth Brown-led Raiders as they built a good sized lead and then held on to down the Marietta Tigers 35-32.
Tanner Bankes ran for 209 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries for Morgan while Casen Foley hauled in four receptions for 56 yards and a touchdown.
Morgan quarterback Gage Roberts connected with Foley on a 26-yard pass in the fourth quarter that put the Radiers up by 15-points before the Tigers scored twice in the final five minutes of the game to make things interesting.
Last year at Morgan, the Raiders downed the Warriors 28-13.
WEST MUSKINGUM (1-0) at FORT FRYE (1-0)
BEVERLY -- After winning their season opener for the first time in three years last week over Ridgewood, the Fort Frye Cadets will look to make it two-in-a-row when they host the West Muskingum Tornadoes Friday night.
The Cadets relied heavily on their defense in the opener as quarterback Grady Hesson's four-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter put them in front and the defense held off several challenges by the Generals late in the game en route to a 19-14 win.
Hesson also connected with Clayton Tullius on a 71-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter while Gavin Rauch accounted for the other touchdown with a three-yard run late in the first quarter.
West Muskingum rolled in their season opener last Friday with a 51-0 win over Lakewood.
Key players to watch for the Tornadoes include quarterback Jake Welsh and skill level players Cohen McConnell and Dente Tyson.
Last season in Zanesville, the Eric Huck-coached Cadets had no trouble at all with the Tornadoes as they rolled to a 36-7 win.
FRONTIER (1-0) at MAGNOLIA (0-0)
NEW MARTINSVILLE W.Va. -- The Frontier Cougars kicked off the 2026 season a night earlier than most teams and it couldn't have gone much better for the Damon Metheney-coached Cougars.
Frontier rolled to a 50-14 win last Thursday over Brideport and will remain on the road Friday when they visit the Magnolia Blue Dons.
The Bulldogs were threatening to score the first points of the game in the first quarter but Luke Mendenhall intercepted a pass and returned it 99-yards for a touchdown to change the momentum of the game.
Mendenhall made his presence felt on the offensive side of the ball as well as he ran for 72 yards and a pair of touchdowns while completing 4-of-7 pass attempts for 43 yards in his first varsity start at quarterback.
Senior Austyn Kephart had a big game as well for Frontier as he rushed the ball 14 times for 131 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Davyn Ferrell and Cooper Schmidt also scored touchdowns for the Cougars.
Magnolia opens their season at home after finishing 2-8 last year including a 34-22 loss to Frontier.
SCIOTOVILLE EAST (0-1) at BELPRE (1-0)
BELPRE -- Week one wasn't kind at all to either the Belpre Golden Eagles or the Sciotoville East Titans as they both suffered losses in their season openers.
East was blanked 14-0 by Millersport while the Eagles fell to Fisher Catholic 28-19 in the debut of head coach Brian Hutchinson.
Belpre will look to improve their running game after picking up just 19 rushing yards against Fisher Catholic.
Eagle quarterback Malik Currie completed 8-of-22 pass attempts for 215 yards and three touchdowns.
AJ Copen, Jayden Gibbs and Malakai Ensor each hauled in long touchdown passes from Currie.
This will be the first-ever match-up between Belpre and East.
WATERFORD (1-0) at CALDWELL (1-0)
CALDWELL - In perhaps the most intriguing match up of week two, a pair of perennial playoff participants in Waterford and Caldwell do battle when the Redskins host the Wildcats.
Both teams got off to strong, shutout wins in their season openers as Waterford downed Vinton County 36-0 and Caldwell blanked Buckeye Trail 28-0.
The Chance Rucker-coached Redskins got a pair of defense touchdowns as Bentley Barnett and Lucas Baker both turned fumble recoveries into touchdowns.
Baker added a rushing touchdown while Garner Gaydos connected with Parker Neff on a 27-yard touchdown pass for the other Caldwell score.
The Eric McCutcheon-led Wildcats were clicking on all cylinders as they used a 23-point second quarter to roll past the Vikings.
Wildcat quarterback Avery Pottmeyer completed just five passes in the game but four of them went for Waterford touchdowns.
Gavin Heiner caught three of those touchdown passes while senior tailback Hayden Jones caught the other.
Jones rushed for 86 yards and a touchdown on eight touches and also caught two passes for 72 in the game while Heiner caught three passes for 57 yards.
The Wildcat defense held Vinton County to just 133 total yards of offense while also coming up with three turnovers.
Last season in Waterford the Wildcats downed Caldwell 21-6.
MILLER (0-1) at EASTERN (0-1)
REEDSVILLE -- Somebody will come away from Friday nights TVC battle in Reedsville with their first victory as the Miller Falcons pay a visit to the Eastern Eagles.
Both teams suffered defeats in week one as the Eagles lost 21-13 to Meigs while the Falcons were hammered by Alexander 47-14.
Quarterback Braxton Yonker and running back Parker Durst are a pair to keep an eye on for the Jason Jackson-coached Eagles.
Miller got a big game from Noah Lemaster in their opener as he returned a kick-off 85 yards for a score while also rushing 14 times for 122 yards and a touchdown.
The two teams did not meet in 2025.
MONROE CENTRAL (1-0) at BELLAIRE (1-0)
BELLAIRE -- Monroe Central got the 2026 season off in grand style with a 33-12 win over Liberty Union.
The Jonathan Calder-coached 'Noles will look to go 2-0 when they travel to Bellaire Friday night.
Monroe Central will have to keep tabs on Bellaire's Rackwon Pettigrew after he returned a pair of punts for touchdowns in the Big Reds 43-13 win last week over Buckeye Local.
Seminole quarterback Cooper Howell had a huge first game as well as he ran for two touchdowns and passed for two more.
Howell completed 14-of-22 pass attempts for an even 200 yards while rushing for 63 yards on 13 touches.
Last season in Woodsfield, Bellaire downed Monroe Central 44-27.
SHENANDOAH ZEPS (1-0) at BRIDGEPORT (0-1)
BRIDGEPORT -- After finishing last season on a strong note, the Shenandoah Zeps picked up right where they left off as they rolled to a 46-0 win in their season opener last Friday against Bishop Rosecrans.
The Mac McLean-led Zeps will look to keep things rolling Friday night when they visit the Bridgeport Bulldogs.
Bridgeport struggled in a week one, 50-14 loss to the Frontier Cougars.
Shenandoah got a huge game from junior quarterback Brody Brown as he fired five touchdown passes in their week one win.
Brown completed 11-of -15 pass attempts for 184 yards including three touchdown passes to Davyn Kunkle.
The Shenandoah defense was equally solid in the opener as they limited Rosecrans to just 127 yards of total offense.
Last season in Sarahsville, the Bulldogs escaped with a 22-20 win over the Zeps.