Cadets head to Warren in search of win No. 8
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VINCENT - After losing for the first time in week number seven to unbeaten Barnesville, the Fort Frye Cadets got back on track with a 42-0 shellacking over the Marietta Tigers at home last Friday night.
The Eric Huck-coached Cadets (7-1) will hit the road once again this week to take on the Warren Warriors (3-5) in their second consecutive inner-county matchup.
The Cadets scored in every single quarter against the Tigers including a 21-point second quarter that broke things open.
Fort Frye quarterback Grady Hesson passed for 161 yards while also scoring a pair of rushing touchdowns to lead the way for the Fort.
Sam Bricker, Wyatt Erb, Gavin Rauch and Zavier Springer all got in on the act with rushing touchdowns for the Cadets.
Fort Frye is currently ranked No. 3 in the latest D-5, Region 19 standings and has already clinched a playoff berth
Wins over Warren and Liberty Union in their season finale would secure a home playoff game for the Cadets and a possible week one bye.
The Warriors snapped a three-game losing streak last week with a thrilling 29-28 win over Edison on the road.
A Jaxon Venham 28-yard field goal gave the Warriors a one-point lead with just under four minutes to go in the game before Edison answered with a touchdown to pull back in front.
Warren would not be denied as quarterback Braylen Murray and receiver Charles Lewis hooked up on the play of the year for the Warriors, a 76-yard touchdown pass with 1:23 to play for what would prove to be the game-winning score.
Murray had an outstanding game as he rushed for 195 yards on 27 carries while completing 8-of-17 pass attempts for 160 yards and the game winning touchdown.
The Jason Gandee-led Warriors also own wins over Morgan and Hillsboro.
Last season in Beverly, the Cadets downed Warren 46-8.
POINT PLEASANT (3-4) at MARIETTA (0-8)
Time is quickly running out for second-year Marietta head coach Mike Kupfner and his Tigers to pick up that elusive first win of the 2026 season.
Before closing out the season with Warren next week, the Tigers will try to get off the schneid Friday night at Don Drumm Stadium when they welcome the Point Pleasant Big Blacks.
The Tigers had their chances to get a W earlier in the season in close losses to Morgan, John Marshall and Amanda-Clearcreek, but they have been humbled the past two weeks in blowout losses to Williamstown (42-14) and Fort Frye (42-0).
The Tigers allowed the Cadets to pile up 368 yards of total offense including more than 200 on the ground.
Marietta is led by quarterback Trenton McVey and running backs Braydon Frye, Daymeon Gulley and Nick McGill.
Point Pleasant comes into the game on the heels of a humbling loss of their own as they had a two-game winning streak snapped last week by Herbert Hoover (61-6).
The Big Black had scored wins over Lincoln County and Nitro the two previous weeks.
Key players to watch for Point Pleasant include quarterback Khileel Bryant, and skill players Isaiah Waminan and Braxton Bauer.
Last season, the Tigers traveled to Point Pleasant and scored a 34-16 win over the Big Blacks.
WATERFORD (6-2) at TRIMBLE (2-6)
GLOUSTER - Don't look now but the Waterford Wildcat defense is putting together an absolutely amazing 2026 campaign.
The Wildcats secured their third consecutive shutout with a 68-0 trouncing of Federal Hocking last Friday night and have now gone 13 straight quarters without allowing a single point.
The Eric McCutcheon-coached green and white will look to stretch those streaks to four games and 14 or more quarters Friday night when they pay a visit to the Trimble Tomcats.
All but one of Waterford's wins has come via the shutout and they are allowing their opponents to score just 5.7 points per game in their eight contests.
Losses to top-three seeded teams in Nelsonville York and Fort Frye are the only two blemishes on Waterford's record as they are currently ranked No. 6 in this week’s D-6, Region 23 standings.
The Waterford offense hasn't been too shabby either.
In the win over the Lancers quarterback Avery Pottmeyer completed all five of his passes for 57 yards and three touchdowns.
Gavin Heiner, Finn Pennock and Kam Johnson each caught touchdown passes while Johnson and Devin Pottmeyer both returned interceptions for touchdowns.
Senior running back Hayden Jones had his usual outstanding game as he rushed for 108 yards and a pair of touchdowns on just five carries.
It's been a tough year for the Tomcats who come into the game with a disappointing 2-6 record.
The Tomcats lost to Eastern last week (55-30) after snapping a four-game losing streak the week before with a 32-15 win over Belpre.
Brycen Dixon ran for a pair of touchdowns last week while Kevin Bycofski returned a kickoff for another score.
Last year in Waterford, the Wildcats blanked Trimble 47-0.
FRONTIER (5-3) at SHENANDOAH (4-4)
SARAHSVILLE - The Frontier Cougars can ill afford a third consecutive loss Friday night when they pay a visit to the Shenandoah Zeps.
Frontier began the year by winning five of their first six games and looked like a lock to secure a playoff berth.
That berth is still well within reach for the Damon Metheney-coached Cougars but a win over the Zeps is an absolute must with a showdown on the road with undefeated River on the schedule in week number 10.
Last week the Cougars were beaten soundly at home by Cameron (46-14).
Frontier started strong on a 4-yard touchdown run by Caden Barrows but then surrendered seven consecutive touchdowns to the Dragons.
Cameron piled up 348 rushing yards in the game, something the Cougars will need to be much better at against Shenandoah.
Quarterback Luke Mendenhall scored the other touchdown for the Cougars while leading them in rushing with 77 yards on 19 carries.
Frontier is currently seeded 10th in the latest D-7, Region 27 standings with the top 12 advancing to the playoffs.
The Zeps are not to be taken lightly as all four of their losses have come against teams currently qualifying for the postseason.
Shenandoah has lost to Waterford, Shadyside, Monroe Central and River.
The Mac McLean-coached Zeps are led by quarterback Brody Brown and running backs Davyn Kunkle and Robert Snodgrass.
Last season at Frontier, Shenandoah downed the Cougars 32-22.
EASTERN (6-2) at BELPRE (4-4)
BELPRE - The Eastern Eagles will look to make seven wins in eight tries when they travel to Belpre to take on the Golden Eagles.
A shutout loss to Waterford (35-0) three weeks ago has been followed by dominating wins over Federal Hocking (48-0) and Trimble (55-30) and have Eastern resting in the No. 5 spot in the latest D-7, Region 27 rankings.
Kyler Basham and Braxton Yonker ran for three touchdowns apiece while Parker Durst ran for two in Eastern's win last week over the Tomcats.
Basham is quite explosive as evidenced by his touchdown runs of 65, 76 and 58 last week.
Belpre has come back to earth a bit over the past few weeks after reeling off three consecutive wins to post a 4-2 record after the first six games.
Since then the Brian Hutchinson-coached Golden Eagles have fallen to Trimble (32-15) and Southern (42-0).
Key players for Belpre include quarterback Mason Baxter, running backs Alex Parker and Carson Woodford and receivers Malik Currie, Malakai Ensor and AJ Copen.
Belpre has their work cut out for them to have any shot at the postseason as they are currently ranked in the 20th spot.
Last season Eastern pounded the Golden Eagles 55-14 at home.
SOUTH HARRISON (4-3) at WILLIAMSTOWN (6-0)
WILLIAMSTOWN - The Williamstown Yellowjackets come into Friday night's home game against South Harrison playing about as good of football as one could imagine.
After a statement win over Chapmanville three weeks ago, the Chris Beck-led 'Jackets have reeled off convincing wins over Marietta (42-14) and Poca (57-7).
Last week’s win over the Dots was so convincing that the game was shortened to eight-minute, running-clock quarters in the second half after Williamstown jumped out to a 57-0 lead at halftime.
Daniel Cunningham scored three first half rushing touchdowns, scored another on an interception return and yet another on a 41-yard pass from quarterback Breck Allen.
Allen completed 9-of-10 pass attempts for 139 yards and three touchdowns.
The Hawks come into the game looking to snap a two-game losing streak on the heels of a three-game winning streak.
South Harrison downed Oak Glen, Poca and Clay County in succession before falling to Philip Barbour and Doddridge County last week (55-6).
Last season in a shootout the 'Jackets came out on top 54-36.
RIVER (8-0) at CALDWELL (2-6)
CALDWELL - The River Pilots will make their very first appearance in the beautiful new stadium in Caldwell looking to remain perfect and stretch their winning streak to nine games.
After going 5-5 last season the Pilots have rolled to eight straight wins this year including big wins the past two weeks over Shadyside (22-13) and Shenandoah (62-36).
In the homecoming win over the Zeps, Wyatt Stadler scored seven touchdowns.
The Pilots are currently resting in the number two spot in the latest D-6, Region 23 standings and wins over Caldwell and Frontier in the season finale would give them a first round bye in the postseason.
It's been a tough year for the Chance Rucker-coached 'Skins as they come into the game with just a pair of wins on the season against Bishop Rosecrans and Buckeye Trail, a pair of teams with one win on the season between them.
Last week Caldwell was beaten by Shadyside 33-7.
Last season in Hannibal, Caldwell downed River 40-7.
MONROE CENTRAL (5-3) at CAMERON (5-1)
CAMERON, W.Va. - In a game that has all the potential of a good old good one, the Cameron Dragons host the Monroe Central Seminoles..
The Jonathan Calder-coached Seminoles have their sights set on the post season and a win over a quality opponent such as Cameron would only increase their chances.
Monroe Central was beaten soundly by Barnesville (48-6) three weeks ago but have come off the mat nicely with shutout wins over Shenandoah (34-0) and Toronto (39-0).
In last week’s win over Toronto, quarterback Cooper Howell completed 5-of-5 pass attempts for 99 yards while also rushing for 92 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 16 carries.
Jeff Kaiser rushed for over a hundred yards while Carter Frye, Ryler Lake and Owen Howard all scored touchdowns for the 'Noles.
Cameron comes into the game after a statement 46-14 win of their own over a very good Frontier Cougar team.
The Dragons had a pair of 100 yard rushers against Frontier in Soier Reed who rushed for 128 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 16 carries while Sharon Brown ran for 175 yards on 17 carries.
Last season in Woodsfield the Seminoles downed Cameron 28-6.