Waterford hosts Eastern to begin league play
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WATERFORD - The red-hot Eastern Eagles travel to Waterford Friday night to take on the Wildcats in a key Tri-Valley Conference showdown.
After falling to Meigs in their season opener, the Jason Johnson-coached Eagles have reeled off four consecutive wins including last week’s 28-21 road win over Division III Warren.
The Eagles have also picked up wins over Miller, South Gallia and Beaver Eastern.
In last week's win over Warren, Eastern rushed for 379 yards led by Parker Durst with 166 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries.
Cade Newland also eclipsed the 100-yard mark with 106 yards and a score on just nine touches while Kyler Bashan added 75 yards and a touchdown on six carries.
The Eric McCutcheon-coached Wildcats come into the game looking to snap a two-game losing streak.
The Wildcats opened the season 3-0 with wins over Vinton County, Caldwell and Shenandoah before falling to Fort Frye (20-0) and Nelsonville-York 18-12.
Last week Waterford spotted Nelsonville-York 18 points before rallying only to come up short in the end.
Hayden Jones scored the first Waterford touchdown on a five-yard run while quarterback Avery Pottmeyer connected with Gavin Hiener on a six-yard pass for the other.
Jones rushed for 102 yards on 17 carries while Pottmeyer completed 13-of-22 pass attempts for 124 yards.
Last season in Reedsville, the Wildcats downed Eastern 28-13.
FRONTIER (4-1) at ST. MARYS (1-2)
ST. MARYS - After scoring a big bounce-back win last week over Valley Wetzel, the Frontier Cougars will look to make it 5-out-of 6 when they cross the Ohio River and battle arch-rival St. Marys Friday night.
The Cougars opened up the season with comfortable wins over Bridgeport, Magnolia and Belpre before suffering their lone loss of the season to unbeaten Shadyside (43-21) in week number four.
Last week the Damon Metheney-coached Cougars rolled to a 51-6 win over the Lumberjacks, their fifth win of the season by at least a 30-point margin.
Frontier junior quarterback Luke Mendenhall rushed the ball five times for 63 yards while completing eight-of-10 pass attempts for 186 yards.
Austyn Kephart caught three passes for 133 yards while also picking up a 9-yard rushing touchdown.
It's been a bit of a sluggish start to the 2026 season for the Jodi Mote-led Blue Devils who downed Webster County (40-6) in their opener before falling to Belpre (34-24) and Ritchie County (12-0) the past two weeks.
Despite being blanked by the Rebels last week, the Devils got solid games from Ejijah Kimble who carried the ball 14 times for 71 yards and Jermiah DeMoss who also touched the ball 14 times for 45 yards.
Last season in New Matamoras the Blue Devils downed Frontier 37-14.
FORT FRYE (5-0) at CALDWELL (1-4)
CALDWELL - After a great start to the 2026 season, the past four weeks have not been kind at all to head coach Chance Rucker and his Caldwell Redskins as they have dropped four straight games.
Things don't figure to get any easier this Friday night for the 'Skins when they host the undefeated Fort Frye Cadets.
Last week the Redskins were blanked for the second straight week as they fell to Newcomerstown 42-0, one week after losing to Monroe Central (40-0) by a similar score.
Key players to watch for Caldwell include quarterback Blayz Abbott, running back Mason Arnold and receivers Parker Neff and KK Moore.
The Cadets seemingly get better every week as evidenced by last week’s 54-23 win over Grandview Heights.
Fort Frye actually spotted GH 14-points and trailed 17-14 at the half before out-pointing them 40-6 in the second half to win going away.
Gavin Rauch had a career game for Fort Frye as he carried the ball 10 times for 192 yards and a career-high five touchdowns.
Tytan Waller rushed for an even 100 yards on 10 carries while Sam Bricker added 60 yards and a touchdown on 5 carries.
Fort Frye did all of their damage on the ground as they rushed for 372 yards while not completing a single pass.
Last season at home, the Cadets downed Caldwell 31-7.
AMANDA-CLEARCREEK (0-5) at MARIETTA (0-5)
Barring a tie somebody is going to get off the snide Friday night when the Marietta Tigers host the Amanda-Clearcreek Aces in a battle of teams still looking for their first wins of the 2026 season.
Despite the losses the Aces have held their opponents to under 30-points in all but one of their games but they come into Friday night's game averaging just 7.8 points per game on offense.
Last week they fell to Hamilton Township 26-6.
The Tigers were able to put points on the board in their first two games of the season in losses to Morgan (35-32) and John Marshall (37-28) but have struggled in the three games since.
The Tigers have been out-pointed 122-23 the past three weeks in losses to Athens (38-10), Watkins Memorial (42-13) and Claymont (42-0).
Marietta did not complete a pass last week in their loss to the Mustangs.
The Tigers were led on offense by Nick McGill with 49 rushing yards on just two touches and Brayden Frye who carried the ball 18 times for 40 yards.
Defensive backs Braylon Williams and Kyree Singer were solid for the Mike Kupfner-led Tigers.
The two teams did not play one another last season.
WARREN (2-3) at ATHENS (4-1)
ATHENS - The Warren Warriors will look to square their record at 3-3 when they make the trip to Athens Friday night to battle a Bulldog squad that is on a three-game winning streak.
Warren came up short last week in a 28-21 loss to the Eastern Eagles to push them to below the .500 mark at the halfway point in the season.
The Jason Gandee-coached Warriors accumulated more than 300 total yards of offense last week against Eastern paced by quarterback Braylen Murray who rushed for 127 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 26 carries.
Murray also completed 10-of-16 pass attempts for 133 yards.
Conner Moore carried the ball 12 times for 63 yards for the Warriors while Jaxon Venham led them in receiving with 57 yards on two catches.
The Bulldogs racked up their fourth lop-sided win of the first half last week with a 50-12 win over Vinton County.
The lone loss of the season for the Bulldogs came in week number two to Unioto (33-14) but since the loss they have downed Marietta (38-10), Alexander (47-6) and Vinton County.
Quarterback Briar Thomas was almost perfect last week as he completed 19-of-21 pass attempts for 191 yards and three touchdowns while Cohen Stalder and Tyriq Cunningham combined to catch 13 of them.
Running back Luke Pero rushed the rock 13 times for 166 yards and three more scores.
Last season in Vincent the Bulldogs downed Warren 44-7.
FEDERAL HOCKING (0-5) at BELPRE (3-2)
BELPRE - No doubt about it the most surprising team in the Mid-Ohio Valley for the first half of the season has to be the Belpre Golden Eagles.
At the midway point in the season the Brian Hutchinson-coached Eagles find themselves one game over .500 and with the chance to increase their winning streak to three Friday night when they host the Federal Hocking Lancers at Ralph Holder Stadium.
Belpre picked up their first win of the season in week number two with a (49-0) win over Sciotoville East and after falling the next week to Frontier (41-6) they bounced back with huge wins over St. Marys (34-24) and Green (46-14).
In last week’s win Mason Baxter fired touchdown passes to Malik Currie, Malakai Ensor and A.J. Copen while Alex Parker rushed for 140 yards and a score.
The Belpre defense got pick-sixes from Slade Atkinson and Carson Woodford.
The Lancers have allowed at least 38 points in all five of their games that resulted in losses to Green, Alexander, Millersport, Bridgeport and Tuscarawas Central Catholic.
Last season Belpre traveled to Stewart and handed Federal Hocking a 34-6 loss.
WILLIAMSTOWN (3-0) at CHAPMANVILLE (2-2)
CHAPMANVILLE, W.Va. -- After three consecutive outstanding defensive performances the Williamstown Yellowjackets will head back out on the road Friday when they travel to Chapmanville to battle the 2-2 Tigers.
WHS has yielded a grand total of 23 points in their first 12 quarters of football this fall in wins over Ravenswood (42-7), Tyler Consolidated (30-7) and Roane County (26-9)
Daniel Cunningham had a huge game for the Chris Beck-coached 'Jackets as he completed a touchdown pass, caught a touchdown pass and returned a kick 89-yards for a touchdown.
Cunningham ran the ball nine times for 67 yards while completing his lone pass attempt for 43 yards and a touchdown to JP Strobl.
Breck Allen carried the ball 11 times for 89 yards while Christian Hoosier came up with a huge special teams play when he returned a blocked-punt 11 yards for the final Williamstown score of the game.
The Tigers come into the game even up on the season after wins over Scott (14-0) and Point Pleasant (35-6) while suffering tough losses to South Charleston (49-7) and Princeton (61-21).
Last season in Williamstown the Tigers downed the Jackets 50-13.
SHENANDOAH (4-1) at SHADYSIDE (5-0)
SHADYSIDE - A pair of teams having outstanding 2026 campaigns will go to war Friday when the once-beaten Shenandoah Zeps visit the undefeated Shadyside Tigers.
The Tigers were not challenged at all the first four weeks of the season as they scored lopsided wins over East Palestine, Southern, Buckeye Local and Frontier.
Shadyside passed their first real test last week as they held off Strasburg for a 22-19 win.
Quarterback Jayden Johnson passed for 237 yards and a pair of touchdowns for the Tigers and also scored the game winning touchdown on an 11-yard run in the final minutes of the game.
Other key players for the Tigers include running back Ace Nelson and Colt Cook.
A week three loss to Waterford is the only blemish on the Shenandoah record so far as they own lopsided wins over Bishop Rosecrans, Bridgeport, Buckeye Trail and Trimble in their other four games.
The Mac McLean coached Zeps rolled to a 43-20 win over Trimble last week, the fourth time they have scored 40 or more points in their first five games.
Key players for Shenandoah include quarterback Brody Brown and running backs Davyn Kunkel and Hunter McCollum.
Last season in Sarahsville the Zeps downed Shadyside 30-12.
WHEELING CENTRAL CATHOLIC (1-3) at MONROE CENTRAL (3-2)
WOODSFIELD - A win over Wheeling Central Catholic would go a long way towards a second half playoff push for head coach Jonathan Calder and his Monroe Central Seminoles.
The Noles own wins over Liberty Union, Bellaire and Caldwell on the season but have lost to Edison (14-13) and undefeated Barnesville.
Last week the Shamrocks buried Monroe Central 48-6.
Quarterback Cooper Howell has been solid all season long for the Seminoles while Lyle Michener accounted for the only points the Seminoles would score last week with a 1-yard touchdown run.
The start to the 2026 campaign has been a bit of a struggle for the reigning state champion Maroon Knights as after kicking off the season with a win over Perry Traditional Academy they have lost three straight to Fort Frye, Ridgewood and Union local.
The two teams did not play one another last season.