As the Fort Frye Cadets (5-3) travel to Sarahsville Friday night to take on the Shenandoah Zeps (3-5), head coach Eric Huck hopes that the good version of his 2011 Cadets show up as opposed to the not so good version.
In the five Cadet victories, Fort Frye has outscored their opponents by a combined score of 123-60, besting the likes of Belpre, Waterford, River Valley, Frontier, and Buckeye Trail.
In the three losses however, Fort Frye has been outscored 100-0 by its opponents, including shutout losses to Monroe Central and River, and last week's 48-0 loss at home to Caldwell.
The Cadets are led on offense by the Lang brothers, quarterback Chandler, and running back Spencer.
Both will be looking to rebound from off games against Caldwell with Chandler gaining just 34 yards rushing and Spencer managing 27.
The Cadet defense was torched by Redskin running back Adam Rossiter for 343 yards rushing and five touchdowns and will need to improve against the Zeps as they face another tough running back in Shane Crum.
Crum is coming off of a 71-yard rushing effort in last week's Shenandoah loss to River and also returned a kickoff 85 yards for the lone Zep touchdown of the game.
Quarterback Eli Hurst completed eight-of-16 passes against River for 81 yards.
The Shenandoah defense will need to improve as well after allowing River to gain 244 yards on the ground last week.
The Zeps will be looking to snap a two-game losing streak and have also dropped four of their last five games.
Last year in Beverly, the Cadets edged Shenandoah 26-25.
Frontier (0-8) at Monroe Central
(7-1)
The Frontier Cougars travel to Woodsfield Friday night to try and upset the Monroe Central Seminoles in a Pioneer Valley Conference clash.
The Cougars are still looking for that elusive first victory of the 2011 season and will face no tougher task the rest of the way than that of head coach Jay Circosta's Seminoles.
The young Cougars appeared to be knocking on the door of a victory when they narrowly dropped a 21-20, Week 6 decision to the archrival Fort Frye Cadets.
Since then, however, head coach Todd Bradford's Cougars have been on the short end of lopsided losses to Caldwell (60-6) and Valley Wetzel (50-26).
The 26 points scored by the Cougars against Valley Wetzel was the most they have scored in any single game this season.
The Seminoles come into the contest on quite a roll, reeling off seven consecutive victories, including last week's big 20-10 victory over the previously undefeated Barnesville Shamrocks in Barnesville.
The Seminoles sport a 7-0 record in the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference and a 4-0 record in the PVC.
To have any chance at pulling off what would be a major upset, the Cougars will need to stop Seminole quarterback Tyler Kinchen.
The senior signal caller has rushed for 769 yards on the season and 10 touchdowns and passed for another 764 yards and nine more scores.
The Monroe Central defense is yielding just 10.2 points per game on the season.
A victory for Circosta would be win number 299 in his legendary career as Seminole head coach.
Last year Monroe Central downed Frontier 47-7 in New Matamoras.
Caldwell (4-4) at Wheeling Central (7-0) (Saturday-7 p.m.)
The resurgent Caldwell Redskins travel to the island in Wheeling Saturday night to take on the defending West Virginia Class A state champion and undefeated Wheeling Central Maroon Knights in a non-conference tussle.
The Redskins have been white hot the past two weeks, beating up on PVC conference rivals' Frontier (60-6) and Fort Frye (48-0) to snap a four-game losing streak.
Senior tailback Adam Rossiter ran wild against Fort Frye amassing a new school, single-game record 343 yards against the Cadets on just 17 carries and finding the end zone five times.
The record happened to be held by Redskin head coach Josh Perkins.
Rossiter is closing in on the 1,300-yard rushing mark for the Skins and has also scored 15 touchdowns on the season, including nine in the last two games.
Quarterback Jensen Croucher runs the Caldwell no huddle offense, and has completed 34-of-70 passes on the season for 569 yards and eight touchdowns.
The Knights have an outstanding ground game of their own, including running back Gino Bianconi, who has rushed for 371 yards in Central's past two games.
Quarterback Parker Henry and receivers Michael Pelva and Braxton Nolte are also key performers for the Maroon Knight offense.
Wheeling Central is averaging 34 points of offense per game, while allowing just over 14 points per game on defense.
All seven wins by Wheeling Central have been by a margin of at least 14 points.
The Redskins are giving up just over 20 points per game and scoring an impressive 35.
A victory by Caldwell would keep alive their rather slim chances at post season play.
South Gallia (6-2) at Waterford (5-3)
In a game that very well could have playoff implications, the Waterford Wildcats will host the South Gallia Rebels Friday night.
Both schools are desperately in need of a win and will need a little help from some other teams as they sit just outside of the top eight in the rankings with the Rebels in tenth and the Cats just behind in 12th.
The Wildcats are in the midst of a modest two-game winning streak with wins over Franklin Furnace Green (13-7) and Southern (32-19).
Waterford has gotten quite a spark of late from freshman running back Derek Brown who had back-to back 100-yard rushing efforts against Green and Southern.
Quarterback Trevor Lang completed eight-of-16 passes against Southern last week for 105 yards and also scored a rushing touchdown.
South Gallia had a four game winning streak snapped last week by a very tough Wahama team, 28-6, after consecutive victories against the likes of Miller, Eastern, Federal Hocking and Belpre.
The Rebels have been the beneficiary of a somewhat favorable schedule with their six wins coming against schools with a combined record of only 12-36, while their two losses have come against teams with combined marks of 12-2.
The Rebels are averaging just under 35 points per game on offense and yielding only 10.5 points on defense, while Waterford is allowing 21 points per contest and scoring 15.
Last year in Crown City the Wildcats downed the Rebels 25-6.
Belpre (0-8)
at Miller (0-8)
Somebody will definitely get the monkey off of their back Friday night when the winless Belpre Golden Eagles journey to Corning to take on the also winless Miller Falcons.
Belpre's last victory came one year ago when it downed Miller in 26-6 at Ralph Holder Stadium in Belpre.
The Eagles have managed to score just 10 points in their, last five games and will need to find some offense to have any chance of handling the Falcons.
Miller has struggled on offense as well, scoring only 44 points in its last five games, while giving up 194.
The Falcons have been closing in on a win the past two weeks, losing 20-12 to Southern two weeks ago before dropping a 20-14 overtime decision to Federal Hocking last week.
Nate Teeters leads the Belpre offense with 318 yards on the season on 72 carries and a pair of touchdowns, while Tyler Martin has 118 yards on 26 carries.
Quarterback Todd Packard has completed 19-of-53 pass attempts for 259 yards on the season.
Crooksville (3-5)
at Morgan (1-7)
A pair of teams very hungry for victories will do battle Friday night when the Morgan Raiders host the Crooksville Ceramics in McConnelsville Friday night.
Crooksville has dropped four of their last five games after getting off to a respectable 2-1 start.
The Raiders got a week two, 20-9 victory over Union Local before dropping their past six contests, including last weeks 33-14 loss to West Muskingum.
Last week the Raiders ground game was quite successful against West Muskingum, racking up 170 yards on the ground.
Dirk Ponchak led Morgan in rushing with 60 yards on eight carries,while Clinton Campbell (20-59) and Jordan Greer (19-52) also had productive games.
Campbell completed just seven-of-22 pass attempts for 75 yards and a touchdown, while also throwing a pair of interceptions.
Last year the Ceramics blanked Morgan 20-0 in Crooksville.
South Harrison (3-4) at St. Marys (3-4)
With identical records through the season's first seven games, it would appear the battle at St. Marys between the Blue Devils and the visiting South Harrison Hawks would be one of very similar teams.
In reality it is a battle of a pair of teams that appear to be headed in opposite directions.
The Hawks come into Friday night's contest on a two-game losing streak, being beaten soundly by both Liberty (42-0) and Parkersburg Catholic (44-19).
The Devils are in the midst of a two-game winning streak, with victories over Gilmer County (53-12) and Calhoun County (42-20).
Key offensive performers for South Harrison are Jacob Stroupe, Jake Wilkins, James Swenskie, and Drew Snyder.
St. Marys is paced by running back Noah Spritzer, who has rushed for 396 yards on the season and four touchdowns, and Cole White with 265 yards rushing and four scores of his own.
Devil quarterback K.D. Arnett has completed 36-0f-87 pass attempts on the year for 476 yards and five touchdowns, three of which were hauled in by Johnny Riggs.
The winner of this contest will keep their post season hopes alive, while the loser will almost surely be eliminated.
Last year Harrison edged the Blue Devils 30-29 in Lost Creek.
