Roundup: The rest of the league opens Friday

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Compiled by Mark Huber

Western Brown at Hillsboro

Western Brown has dominated recent meetings with Hillsboro.

So Matt Hodge’s Indians hope to change that Friday night when the Broncos come to Highland County. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

Western Brown won 42-6 in 2014, 49-6 in 2013, 41-14 in 2012 and 49-18 in 2011.

The last Hillsboro win in the series came in 2010 when the Indians prevailed in a nailbiter 35-34.

Hillsboro will utilize the throwing ability of quarterback Hunter Chain and operate more of spread-type offense, according to Hodge.

Hillsboro was 3-7 last season and 1-6 in the SCOL. The 2014 season was the first for Hodge at Hillsboro after leaving East Clinton.

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Adena at McClain

Former Wilmington High School assistant coach Jeremey Andrews takes over a struggling McClain program this season.

The Tigers were 0-10 overall and 0-7 in the SCOL.

Adena visits Greenfield Friday night. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

Last season, McClain lost to Adena 25-22 in Frankfort.

Prior to that, however, the Tigers have had some success against the Warriors, winning 47-21 in 2013 and 24-18 in 2012.

The Tigers of McClain have a new face at the helm of the team in coach Jeremey Andrews. They are hoping to improve on a winless year in 2014 where they were 0-10 overall ad 0-7 in league play.

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Chillicothe at Johnstown-Monroe

The Cavaliers were 6-4 last season but finished 5-2 in the SCOL. The only losses were to Clinton County schools Clinton-Massie and Wilmington.

The other two losses came to playoff teams — 8-3 Johnstown-Monroe (28-14) and 8-3 Teays Valley (28-21).

In fact, when you add up the four losses, the score differential was a meager 28 points.

The Cavs had four SCOL blowout wins in 2014 — 55-0 over Hillsboro, 35-0 over McClain, 56-0 over Washington and 55-0 over East Clinton.

But the Johnnies of Licking County provide a much different squad in the opener.

Johnstown-Monroe advanced to the Div. IV Region 13 playoffs last season, but lost to Steubenville 35-22.

Chillicothe defeated Johnstown-Monroe 20-7 in 2013.

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Miami Trace at Circleville

All the hard work.

All the weightlifting, running, training and praciticing through the dog days of summer.

All of that has led up to this: the week of practice prior to the season-opening football game for the Miami Trace Panthers, taking on the Tigers of Circleville in Roundtown 7:30 p.m. Friday night.

Last year, these former SCOL rivals met at Panther Stadium with Miami Trace coming away with a 41-14 victory.

The Tigers got the first score of the season in that game a year ago. However, the Panthers steam-rolled the Tigers with 33 unanswered points. The teams exchanged scores down the stretch for the 41-14 final.

Miami Trace has finished 7-4 in each of the last two years. Trace was 4-3 in the SCOL in 2014.

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Northridge at Washington

Northridge will visit Gardner Park to face Washington Senior Friday night to kick off the 2015 football season.

The Polar Bears, a Div. V school in the Dayton area, were 2-8 last season and are a member of the Southwest Buckeye League.

“Northridge is a program that didn’t have a very good season last year, just like we didn’t have a very good season,” said Washington head coach Corey Dye said. “They had a lot of young players last year, just like we did. They have a new coach who’s taken over the program. After watching them on film and going to see them in a scrimmage, I think they’re very similar to us. They’re hungry to win.

“After watching them and studying them, I can see that they have improved. It’s definitely not going to be an easy game for us. They run the spread offense, which all it takes is for the quarterback to get a little bit hot and it becomes a challenge.”

Washington was 3-7 last season, including a 3-4 mark in the SCOL.

“I’ve been very pleased with our kids over the last several weeks,” said Washington head coach Corey Dye, now beginning his seventh season. “The thing that you look for as a coach is ‘Are we getting better each and every day? Are we getting better each and every week?’ I can say that we are, both on the offensive side and the defensive side.”

The two teams have not met on the varsity football field in a number of years. No record was found of the two teams playing going to back to the 2001 season, according to www.joeeitel.com.

Compiled by Mark Huber

Reach Mark Huber at 937-556-5765, or on Twitter @wnjsports.

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