Local Sports

Frontier seeks first 4-0 start since 2020

NEW MATAMORAS - The Frontier Cougars have not begun a season 4-0 since 2020.

The Shadyside Tigers have not achieved that feat since 2021.

One of the two will see their three-game winning streak come to an end Friday night when the undefeated Tigers battle the unbeaten Cougars.

To be honest neither team has been challenged in the first three weeks of the season as they both own three consecutive lopsided victories.

Shadyside has rolled to wins over East Palestine (49-13), Southern (49-0) and Buckeye Local (61-6) while Frontier has cruised to victories over Bridgeport (50-14), Magnolia (45-14) and Belpre (41-6).

In last week’s win over Buckeye Local, Shadyside quarterback Jayden Johnson accounted for five touchdowns while rushing for 111 yards and passing for 75 more.

Other key contributors for the Tigers should be running back Colt Cook and receiver Michael Hendershot.

Frontier junior quarterback Luke Mendenhall is off to a great start in his first varsity action after missing the majority of his sophomore campaign due to injury.

Last week in the win over Belpre, Mendenhall ran the ball 15 times for 91 yards and a pair of touchdowns while completing 11-of-23 pass attempts for 143 yards including a 28-yard scoring toss to Hunter Ruble.

Davyn Ferrell, Austyn Kephart and Phoenix Nedley each scored touchdowns as well for the Damon Metheney-led Cougars.

Last season at Shadyside, the Tigers edged the Cougars 13-6.

MARIETTA (0-3) at WATKINS MEMORIAL (1-2)

PATASKALA -- The Watkins Memorial Warriors picked up their first win of the season with a convincing 41-7 win last week over Mansfield Senior.

The Marietta Tigers travel to Pataskala Friday night to take on the Warriors looking to pick up their first W of the 2026 season.

The Mike Kupfner-coached Tigers lost a pair of close ones in week's one and two to Morgan (35-32) and John Marshall (37-28) before being routed on the road last week at Athens (38-10).

In last weeks loss to the Bulldogs the Tigers actually led at halftime before surrendering 31 unanswered points in the second half en route to their third consecutive defeat.

The Tigers got a 10-yard touchdown run from quarterback Trenton McVey to take an early lead and after Athens tied it up, Kingston McMahon booted a 22-yard field goal as time expired in the opening half to put MHS back in front 10-7 at the break.

The Warriors lost in their first two games to Worthington Kilbourne (49-7) and Sheridan (21-14) before rebounding last week with their dominating win over Mansfield Sr.

Key players to watch for the Warriors include Graham Smith and Xander Malchak.

The two teams did not meet in 2025.

WARREN (1-2) at HILLSBORO (0-3)

HILLSBORO -- A pair of teams in need of a win in the worst way will hook up Friday night when the Warren Warriors make the long trip to Hillsboro to take on the winless Indians in their home opener.

Hillsboro has dropped three-in-a-row to Western Brown (49-13), Goshen (49-7) and Waynesville (52-13).

Freshman quarterback Rush Workman calls the signals for the Indians while Tre Captain had a big game in last weeks loss by rushing for a 70-yard touchdown while also intercepting a pass on defense.

The Warriors have suffered a pair of losses early on to Union Local (34-0) and Logan (17-6) sandwiched around a week number two 28-21 win over Morgan.

Last week against Logan, the Jason Gandee-coached Warrirors scored first on Conner Moore's 18-yard run but would not find pay dirt again as Logan scored 17 unanswered points the rest of the way to pick up their first win of the season.

Warren quarterback Braylen Murray rushed the ball 20 times for 71 yards while completing all but one of his seven pass attempts for 43 yards.

Jaxon Venham caught four of those passes for a team-high 47 yards.

The two did not play one another in 2025.

BELPRE (1-2) at ST. MARYS (1-0)

ST. MARYS -- Jodi Mote kicked off his 25th season as Blue Devils head coach in grand fashion last Friday as St.Marys rolled to a 40-6 win over Webster County.

The win was victory number 196 in Mote's legendary career and now he will look to make it 197 Friday when they host the Belpre Golden Eagles of first-year head coach Brian Hutchinson.

Key players to watch for St. Marys include quarterback Jeremiah DeMoss and running back Elijah Kimball.

Belpre picked up their first win of the season in week number two with a 49-0 shellacking of Sciotoville East but were unable to sustain that momentum last week when they were drubbed by the Frontier Cougars 41-6.

Belpre's lone score in the game came on a third-quarter 1-yard run by Maverick McCartney.

Quarterback Malik Currie completed 11-of-27 pass attempts for 125 yards including five to Malakai Ensor for 40 yards.

The two teams did not meet last season

CALDWELL (1-2) at MONROE CENTRAL (2-1)

WOODSFIELD -- The Caldwell Redskins have made the postseason in each of the last six seasons.

Though it's certainly not a necessity, a win Friday night on the road at Monroe Central would give the Chance Rucker-coached Redskins a huge boost and a step in the right direction.

The season started out just fine for Caldwell with a 28-0 win over Buckeye Trail but a tough last minute loss to Waterford (15-8) in week number two was followed by a 49-14 loss last week to Tuslaw.

Freshman Blayz Abbott will likely make his fourth straight start at quarterback behind a Redskin line that features four-year starters Brody Pitts and Dalton Egnot.

With a little bit of luck the Jonathan Calder-coached Seminoles could well be 3-0 heading into their rivalry game with the 'Skins.

The 'Noles grabbed wins in week numbers one and two over Liberty Union (33-12) and Bellaire (28-14) respectively before falling to Edison 14-13 last Thursday night.

Jeff Kaiser got the scoring underway for the Seminoles with a 50-yard interception return for a touchdown while quarterback Cooper Howell scored the other on a one-yard plunge.

Howell rushed for 65 yards in the game while passing for 93 more.

Last season in Caldwell the Redskins rolled to a 41-0 win over Monroe Central.

BEAVER EASTERN (2-1) at REEDSVILLE EASTERN (2-1)

REEDSVILLE -- The team names are identical, the team records are identical and the winning streaks are even identical as the (Beaver) Eastern Eagles visit the (Reedsville) Eastern Eagles Friday night in an interesting week three match up to say the least.

Beaver Eastern opened the season with a 30-27 loss to South Point before bouncing back with a pair of convincing wins over Oak Hill (49-7) and Minford (31-6).

Reedsville Eastern fell to Meigs (21-13) in their season opener before picking up wins over Miller (34-8 and South Gallia (42-6).

The two did not play one another in 2025.

SHENANDOAH (2-1) at BUCKEYE TRAIL (0-3)

LORE CITY -- The Shenandoah Zeps will look to get back on track Friday when they visit the winless Buckeye Trail Warriors after running into a buzz saw in the Waterford Wildcats last Friday night in Waterford.

The Zeps were blanked by Waterford 35-0 after securing wins in the opening two weeks over Bishop Rosecrans (46-0) and Bridgeport (49-18).

The Shenandoah offense led by junior quarterback Brody Brown was unable to get much going at all against the tenacious Waterford defense.

Brown along with backfield mates Hunter McCollum, Davyn Kunkle and Robert Snodgrass will look for a turnover performance against Trail, a team that is yielding 30 plus points per game in their first three weeks.

The Warriors have struggled offensively as well as they have scored just six points in their losses to Caldwell (28-0), Crooksville (35-6) and Newark Catholic (31-0).

Last season the Mac McLean-coached Zeps picked up their first win of the season with a 28-8 win over Buckeye Trail