Trimble at Coal Grove

Trimble lost All-Ohio running back Tyler Dyla and quarterback Charles Kish from last season, but the Tomcats will turn to fullback Austin Keith, quarterback Connor Stanley and tailback Austin North to provide offense. Another candidate at quarterback is Justin Jewell.

Other key veterans are guard and linebacker Chris Spears and guard and defensive end J.D. Chesser.

Trimble beat South Gallia 18-14 last week after losing 42-6 to Nelsonville-York and 47-22 to Wahama, W.Va.

Portsmouth West at Rock Hill

This is a matchup of Region 19 Division V teams. West is currently fourth in the playoff ratings and Rock Hill No. 20 making this a key point game for the Redmen.

Portsmouth West is 3-0 with two wins coming against Ohio Valley Conference teams. West has beaten Fairland 43-13 and South Point 54-7 to go with a 26-13 win over Portsmouth.

West continues to be sparked offensively by running backs Adam Bricker and Kyle Auger. Quarterback Levi Ratliff’s favorite receiver is Corey Summers.

Chesapeake at Lucasville Valley

Unbeatens and conference favorites lock up in a key game toward playoff points.
Chesapeake has used a strong defense to win its three games and that same defense will be tested against the Indians (3-0) who are led by quarterback Blake Yates and running back Luke Keller.
Wide receiver Rob Dwyer is a favorite target of Yates who can both run and throw. Up front the Indians rely on Curt Crabtree and tight end Alex Hartley. Linebacker Tyler Rowe leads the defense.
Two of Lucasville Valley’s wins have been against OVC teams, 41-7 over Rock Hill and 33-14 over Coal Grove the past two weeks.

Point Pleasant at South Point

Speed is the main weapon of the Point Pleasant Big Blacks who are ranked 7th in the West Virginia Class AA playoff ratings. They were a preseason No. 1 but they are No. 7 because they have only played two games, beating Sissonville 75-7 and Tolsia 62-14.

West Virginia’s playoff system includes margin of victory as a tiebreaker.

The running game is led by Teran Barnitz, Anthony Darst and Tylun Campbell. Jason Stouffer, Conner Templeton, Chase Walton, Eric Freeman and Josh Hereford key the defense.

Fairland at Wheelersburg

Fairland (1-2) used a dominating running game last week to beat Tolsia 47-27 while Wheelersburg relied on running, passing and defense to beat Portsmouth 28-19.

Pirates’ quarterback Alex Shears was 11 of 20 for 126 yards and ran for a score. Mark O’Brien ran for 105 yards on 24 carries and returned an interception for a touchdown that proved to be the deciding score.

Brett Hood sparked the passing game with five catches for 42 yards.

Wheelersburg (2-1) gave up 178 passing yards but shut down the Trojans’ running game.

Symmes Valley at Manchester

Symmes Valley is looking to bounce back after last week’s tough 20-3 loss to Chesapeake.

Manchester is led by running backs Dalton West and Ian Gulley.

The Greyhounds are 0-3 after losing 63-0 to Southeastern Ross last week. Manchester entered the game with only 18 players due to injuries.

Travis Combs was forced to move from flanker to quarterback and the Greyhounds managed just 46 yards of total offense.

After losing 26-8 to Green, Manchester lost 35-19 to Bracken County, Ky., after grabbing a 13-0 first quarter lead.