Benjamin Logan is hoping to build on its positive start, while West Liberty-Salem will be attempting to get its first win when the two local squads clash Friday at WL-S.
The Raiders fought off a scrappy Triad team for a 21-6 victory in Week 1.
“We started slow,” said Ben Logan head coach Jeff Fay. “I think we were maybe too excited after having to wait 12 months to play a game again. We kind of had to calm out emotions.”
WL-S overcame a rough start to send a scare into host Graham last week, but the Falcons held on for a 27-21 win.
Graham jumped out to an early 14-0 lead before the Tigers were able to come back and tie the game.
“The game last week show us that if we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot we can be a really good football team,” said WL-S head coach Dan McGill. “We have to start better. We put ourselves in a hole within the first eight minutes of the game. I really liked how we kept fighting, made adjustments and put ourselves in a position to win at the end.”
The Raiders will attempt to use their balance on offense to provide problems for the Tigers. Ben Logan threw for 189 yards and rushed for 116 yards in the win over Triad.
“Ben Logan has good size at every position,” said McGill. “They have a physical running game and a good passing attack. They have a lot of seniors too, so that is always an advantage.”
WL-S wants to put a lot of emphasis on its ground attack this season as it has two talented running backs in Gabe McGill and Josh Wilcoxon as well as a quarterback that can run in Miles Hostetler.
In the loss to Graham, Wilcoxon ran for 66 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries and McGill contributed 63 rushing yards and a TD on 15 rushes. Hostetler added 57 rushing yards.
“They are doing some different things on offense,” said Fay. “They showed some shotgun triple option, stuff we have never seen from them.
“Gabe McGill is the real deal and they are incredibly well coached. We have been working all week in practice to adjusting our defense to face what West Liberty is running now.”
Elsewhere around the area on Friday:
Riverside at Northeastern
Riverside will look to get on track after a Week 1 loss on Friday when it travels to Northeastern for a non-league contest.
The Pirates were handed a 36-14 loss by Ansonia in the season opener last week.
Northeastern is coming off a 48-0 blanking of Bethel in its opener.
Riverside beat the Jets 28-18 last season, but Northeastern is poised to avenge that loss with an experienced squad.
The Jets are led by senior quarterback Cade Houseman, a dual-threat who passed for 1,774 yards and 18 touchdowns and ran for 1,130 yards and 10 more TDs a year ago. Houseman finished second in the Ohio Heritage Conference in passing yards and was third in rushing yards a year ago.
In last week’s’ win over Bethel, Houseman was 6-9 passing for 102 yards and one touchdown.
Helping with the rushing load this season for the Jets are junior Cody Lookabaugh and sophomore Garrett Chadwell.
Chadwell had 136 rushing yards and two TDs on just nine carries in the win over Bethel, while Lookabaugh tallied 164 yards and two TDs on six rushes.
Junior wide receiver Johnny Guevara led the Jets in receiving in Week 1 with four catches for 88 yards and one TD.
Riverside will look to gain some traction both offensively and defensively after struggling in the first game.
The Pirates were limited to 273 yards of offense and they gave up 427 rushing yards.
Indian Lake at Fairbanks
Indian Lake had some ups and downs in a 34-19 loss to Anna to open the season last week.
The Lakers will attempt to get everything ironed out Friday when they head to Fairbanks for a non-league football game.
Indian Lake will see a Fairbanks squad coming off a 43-6 pasting of Cardington Lincoln in Week 1.
The Panthers put up a modest 315 yards of offense against Cardington, but its defense allowed just 140 yards.
Fairbanks rushed for 265 yards in its win. Senior Brogan Green led the way with 74 yards and a touchdown on 11 attempts.
Green rushed for 752 yards and five TDs as a junior last fall.
Four other Panthers had rushing touchdowns against Cardington.
The Fairbanks quarterback this season is junior A.J. Landon. He went 5-of-8 passing for 50 yards in the opener.
North Union at Triad
Triad faces a stiff challenge Friday night with a home game against North Union.
The Cardinals fell to Benjamin Logan 21-6 in their season opener.
North Union, expected by many to be the team to beat in the Central Buckeye Conference Mad River division race this fall, cruised past Marion Pleasant 42-6 in Week 1.
The Wildcats rolled up 483 yards of offense while limiting Pleasant to 235 total yards.
Senior quarterback Cayden Lassister leads a balanced attack for the Wildcats. He was 14-of-18 passing for 269 yards and five touchdowns in the win over Pleasant. Lassister added 44 yards rushing on four carries.
Junior running back Nolan Draper played a big role in the season-opening victory, rushing for 75 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries and catching five passes for 83 yards and two scores.
Senior wide receiver Trey Bossaller made three catches for 112 yards and two TDs to compliment the NU offense.
The Cardinals hope to build on an offensive attack that produced 270 yards in the loss to Ben Logan. Sophomore running back Awsom Mitchell provided a highlight with 122 rushing yards on 13 carries.
Ridgemont at Southeastern
Ridgemont got its season off to a winning start with a 52-16 rout of Vanlue last week.
The Gophers will try to make it two wins in a row Friday with a road trip to Southeastern.
The Trojans are coming off a 41-7 victory over Northwestern in Week 1.
It was a good start for a Southeastern squad that went 2-7 in 2021.
Sophomore running back Hayden Davis (6-1, 190) powered the Trojans in Week 1 with 22 carries for 144 yards and two touchdowns.
Junior quarterback Zack McKee had an efficient opener, going 4-of-5 passing for 115 yards and two touchdowns.