West Liberty-Salem came up short against a powerful Northeastern team last week, stopping a four-game winning streak.
But the Tigers remain in a good position to make the playoffs and will look to get back on track Friday at Mechanicsburg in the first of two Champaign County rivalry games to end the season.
WL-S, which will face Triad next week in the regular-season finale, stands at 5-3 overall and 2-1 in the Ohio Heritage Conference North division entering Friday’s game.
The Indians come in at 6-2, 2-1.
“They are really fundamentally sound, they put themselves in good positions on both sides of the ball,” said WL-S head coach Dan McGill of the Indians. “They do a good job of limiting mistakes and they play hard.”
Mechanicsburg opened the season with four straight wins before being shut out 35-0 by Greeneview in Week 5. The Indians bounced back with a 34-12 win over Triad before losing to Northeastern 42-21.
Last Friday, the Indians beat Fairbanks 27-14.
Junior quarterback Jayden Roland is the spark plug of the Indians’ offensive attack. He has thrown for 643 yards and rushed for 535 yards.
Senior Charlie Bradford and sophomore Gabe Hursey have both added over 300 yards on the ground for Burg.
The team’s top receiver is junior Kailen Butler, who has 12 receptions for 440 yards and six touchdowns.
McGill said his team has to be sharp on both sides of the ball to get a win over the rival Indians.
“We have to take care of the football and not give them extra possessions,” said McGill.
“We must be efficient on offense and stay ahead of the chains. Defensively, we must align quickly to their unbalanced formations and read our keys at the snap of the ball.”
Despite the 33-10 loss to the unbeaten Jets last week, there were plenty of positives for the Tigers to build on. They trailed by just six points entering the fourth quarter.
“Our guys played very hard last week,” said McGill. “Unfortunately, we lost a couple of guys to injury and struggled to keep pace with them down the stretch. One thing I was very proud of is my guys never stopped fighting no matter what the scoreboard says, that is a testament to their grit and character. I would expect the same thing as we look to finish the regular season against a couple of good county rivals.”
Elsewhere around the area Friday:
Cincinnati College Prep at Riverside
Riverside was forced to do some adjusting to the schedule in the wake of uncertainty with the Covington program, so the Pirates will have a different opponent than the one originally scheduled on Friday.
The Pirates will play host to Cincinnati College Prep, instead of hosting Covington as the original schedule called for. Covington has struggled to field a healthy team in recent weeks, prompting the Pirates to make different plans for Week 9.
Riverside has some familiarity with CCP. The two teams met in the playoffs last year, with the Pirates rolling to a 37-18 victory in the second round.
The Lions, a member of the Cincinnati Metro Athletic Conference North division, are currently 4-4 this season.
CCP favors its ground game but has shown the ability to make some plays in the passing game as well.
The Lions have rushed for 984 yards on the season. They have used a combination of tailbacks in Rico Johnson (34 carries, 330 yards, four TDs), Terry Bishop (40-209, two TDs) and Donald Bailey (33-206, two TDs).
Three different players have thrown at least 15 passes for the Lions. Bailey has done the most passing, going 13-of-23 for 215 yards and three TDs with one interception.
The Lions are coming off a 28-14 loss to Gamble Montessori. CCP finished with just 112 yards of offense.
Riverside will look to keep rolling as it looks to stretch its winning streak to seven games. The Pirates hope to fine tune their attack as they prepare for a huge Week 10 showdown against unbeaten Milton-Union.
Graham at Ben Logan
Benjamin Logan returns home for the first time in four weeks Friday as the Raiders welcome Graham for a Central Buckeye Conference Mad River division contest.
The Raiders (2-6, 1-2) will try to bounce back from back-to-back lopsided losses to North Union (48-14) and Urbana (37-8).
Graham (4-4, 2-1) comes in riding a wave of confidence after knocking off North Union 39-33 last week.
The Falcons piled up 458 yards of offense in the win over the Wildcats. Senior quarterback Eli Hollingsworth had a big night with 177 passing yards and two TDs and 131 rushing yards on 14 carries.
On the season, Hollingsworth has thrown for 1,520 yards (109 of 184) and 17 touchdowns against eight interceptions. He has added 486 yards and four TDs on the ground.
Junior Tucker Nave has been productive on the ground as well for the Falcons with 434 yards and eight TDs on 93 carries.
Hollingsworth has spread the ball around to a host of receivers in the passing game.
Eli Jacks leads the Falcons with 410 receiving yards on 23 catches, Ben Sells has 326 yards on 23 grabs, Jeff Honeycutt has made 24 receptions for 305 yards and five TDs and Sam Wright has added 17 catches for 204 yards.
North Union at Indian Lake
Indian Lake jumped into the win column for the first time last week and did it in commanding fashion, routing Northwestern 35-7.
The Lakers (1-7, 1-2) face a much bigger challenge this week as they welcome in North Union for a Central Buckeye Conference Mad River division game.
North Union was expected by many to win the CBC Mad River title this year, but the Wildcats are suddenly looking up in the league standings at first-place Urbana after losing to Graham 39-33 last week.
North Union features one of the most balanced offenses in the CBC. The Wildcats have rushed for 1,993 yards and passed for 1,186 yards.
Senior quarterback Cayden Lassister is 76-of-118 for 1,153 yards and 13 touchdowns. He has been intercepted five times. He can run the ball, too, with 169 yards and one TD on 28 attempts.
Senior Owen Davis, who has committed to Purdue to play linebacker, leads the Wildcats’ rushing attack with 894 yards and 16 touchdowns on 110 carries.
Junior Nolan Draper has contributed 355 rushing yards and three TDs on 51 carries.
Senior Trey Bossaller is the Wildcats’ leading receiver with 27 catches for 468 yards and six touchdowns.
Triad at Northeastern
Triad will look to play spoiler on Friday when it travels to Northeastern to take on the unbeaten and state-ranked Jets in an Ohio Heritage Conference North division football game.
The Cardinals (3-5, 1-2) turned in a valiant effort against West Jefferson a week ago before falling 28-20.
Northeastern (8-0, 3-0) has been very impressive on both sides of the football this season.
The Jets are averaging 44.5 points per game on offense and are allowing only eight points per contest.
The focus of slowing down the Jets lies in containing standout senior quarterback Cade Houseman.
A true dual threat, Houseman has thrown for 1,528 yards and 15 touchdowns while rushing for a team-best 733 yards and 10 TDs.
In addition to Houseman, the Jets have several other talented options to carry the football. Cody Lookabaugh, Hunter Albright and Garrett Chadwell all have at least 300 rushing yards.
Houseman’s favorite target int the passing game has been senior Dylan Haggy, who has 43 catches for 713 yards and eight touchdowns.
Ridgemont at Hardin Northern
Ridgemont will attempt to rebound from last week’s loss to Elgin on Friday when the Gophers travel to Hardin Northern for a Northwest Central Conference football game.
The Gophers enter with a 4-4 overall record and a 3-2 mark in the NWCC. The Polar Bears are currently 5-3, 4-1.
Hardin Northern features a dominant ground game that has produced 2,606 rushing yards. Leading the way is junior Carter Curtis, who has rushed for 1,009 yards and 15 TDs on 91 carries.
Sophomore quarterback Nolan Hopson has made plays with both his arm and his legs. He has rushed for 603 yards and 11 touchdowns while adding 514 yards and four TDs through the air.