Week 4 Skinny: What to know about Friday's football matchups from around the area

MARION — Pleasant's football team is living by two mottos: "Find a way," and "win the day."

"Just get better each day," first-year Pleasant coach C.J. Westler said after naming the words they're living by in 2023. "I think we’re on the right track. We have our ups and downs, but we’ve had a lot more ups than downs. The kids are really excited."

To find a way to win the day on Friday night, the Spartans (2-1) will need to be at their best. Highland, last year's Mid Ohio Athletic Conference runner-up, comes to Don Kay Field to open league play, and the Scots are undefeated.

"We talked to our kids on defense that we have to get to the football and attack," Westler said. "When we’re in a position to make a play, we’ve got to make it. On film, their running back will break two and three tackles and take it 70 yards. If we’re in a position to make a tackle at the line of scrimmage, we’ve got to make the play."

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Stopping Highland's Dane Nauman, the senior multi-time All-Ohioan who leads the area with more than 600 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on the ground, probably isn't going to happen, but controlling him or limiting his opportunities is what Pleasant needs to do against the Scots.

"Offensively we’ve talked a lot about execution," Westler said. "These are all things we’ve done really well. We just have to do them consistently. The good teams do all these things on a consistent basis. They don’t have lapses where they stall out for two or three drives or lose focus."

It is Pleasant's best start to a season since 2019.

"They were young last year, and they’re not young this year," Highland coach Ty Stover said of the differences between Pleasant's 2023 team and last year's squad that lost to the Scots 45-6. "They’ve got a new coach, and anytime you get a new coach, you get a little new coach mojo there. They’ve got some good athletic kids, and they play physical. We have our hands full on Friday. We know that."

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The Spartans scored 43 points Friday night in a win at Whitehall-Yearling, and that's the most points scored by a Pleasant team since Week 10 of 2019 when it put up 54 in a victory over Galion. In the 2020 opener, they scored 42 points in a win over Marion Harding, so last week was just the second time reaching the 40s in the 2020s.

"We’ve got to go to Pleasant which is not an easy place to play. There’s a rich tradition there. We’ll try to get ready," Stover said. "We’ve got to worry about what we do best and do it better week-in and week-out. If we can do that, we can at least compete and try to get a victory, which makes it a little better."

Shelby at Marion Harding

• Scouting Shelby: The Whippets (2-1) are averaging more than 40 points per game and are coming off a 35-33 loss to perennial northwest Ohio power Bellevue ... Brayden DeVito has already thrown for more than 1,000 yards, and Isaiah Ramsey tops the league with 20 receptions for 414 yards ... "They’re senior-laden. On defense, they start like eight seniors. They’re experienced and have been around the block. They’re a good football team," Harding coach Chuck Williamson said. "They’re well-coached and play hard. They are physical and very talented, we’re going to have to bring our A game on Friday night to beat them."

• Scouting Marion Harding: The Presidents (1-2) are coming off their first win of the season in Week 3, taking control in the second half against Newark ... "They’re starting to understand that fast and physical teams win," Williamson said of his squad. "The last couple of weeks we told them all along that we’re a couple plays away from being 3-0. This week they put it all together. Newark is a good football team. They were big and strong and an OCC team. We felt really good about the win."

River Valley at Ontario

• Scouting River Valley: The Vikings (1-2) lost in overtime to Ashland and tried to hang with undefeated Tiffin Columbian last week, making it interesting in the fourth quarter when it appeared the Tornadoes had the game in hand ... "The kids realize we lost a couple tough games that could have went our way, but they didn’t. They still feel good about our team and feel good about going into this week," RV coach Matt Waddle said.

• Scouting Ontario: The undefeated Warriors needed a field goal to beat Lexington 17-14, but have pitched two shutouts against Centerburg and Madison since ... Ontario is plus-5 in turnover margin, and it is holding teams to 106 yards of total offense per game ... "We always seem to play Ontario pretty well, whether it was at home or away. I feel like the kids are very confident in what we’re doing and that our abilities are and that they can help the team be successful," Waddle said.

Ridgemont at Elgin

• Scouting Ridgemont: The Golden Gophers (1-2, 1-1) held Ridgedale to 79 yards rushing from five carriers ... The defense has given up at least 28 points in each game ... Ridgemont lost to Elgin 40-20 last year.

• Scouting Elgin: The Comets (3-0, 2-0) have yet to be scored upon, the latest shutout coming last week at North Baltimore 59-0 ... Everyone got involved for Elgin as 15 players made tackles with 11 players accounting for 23 behind the line of scrimmage ... On offense Brody Wood, Kaiden Luikart and Ronnie Newman all rushed for at least 100 yards and Stephen Castillo-Carey added 77.

Ridgedale at Crestline

• Scouting Ridgedale: The Rockets (2-1, 1-1) doubled up Ridgemont in a road win, scoring 32 points as Brayden Townsend was 10 of 19 passing for 204 yards and three touchdowns ... J.J. Slaughterbeck caught a 64-yard TD pass, while Nathan Thiel and Logan Ransick had the other TD receptions ... On defense, Townsend led with 18 tackles, six for loss, three sacks and a fumble recovery, while Michael Deas had 16 tackles, Thiel 14, Slaughterbeck 13, Rasnick 10 and A.J. Imbody nine.

• Scouting Crestline: The Bulldogs (0-3, 0-2) scored their first touchdown of the season in a 26-8 loss to Perry last week... Crestline's defense has given up 139 points through three games .... The team has lost 22 in a row, dating back to the final game of the 2020 season, a 48-28 victory over Vanlue.

Northmor at Cardington

• Scouting Northmor: The Golden Knights (2-1) suffered their first loss of the season last week, dropping a 40-33 game at Mapleton ... Northmor has an ultra-balanced attack so far this season with 589 yards coming in the air and 541 on the ground ... Eight different players have scored touchdowns for the Knights, while Caleb Schnuerer has been automatic in the kicking game, going 15-for-15 in PATs.

• Scouting Cardington: The Pirates (1-2) are coming off their first win of the season, beating Bucyrus 36-28 last week ... Wyatt Denney is averaging more than 100 yards per game and 7.5 yards per carry for Cardington, while Journey Williamson is also cresting 100 yards per game passing with three TD passes and just one interception.

Mount Gilead at Loudonville

• Scouting Mount Gilead: Cole Fricke is the Indians' top rusher with 240 yards and their top passer with 206 yards ... Mount Gilead (2-1) has allowed 34 points in three games after shutting out Grove City Christian last week ... "We still have a lot of work to do which is normal for this time of year. The defense has played solid," MG coach Mike Reid said. "The offense has been able to put together longer drives. The problem is they’re longer drives because sometimes we have a breakdown here or there. At least they’re able to overcome it and finish. Week 1 we put together some nice drives but didn’t finish. Now the drives we’re putting together we’re finishing off."

• Scouting Loudonville: The Redbirds (1-2) have been outscored 80-10 by Utica and Hillsdale the last two weeks ... Loudonville has three of the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference's top six tacklers ... "Although Loudonville is new to the league last year, we’re at least familiar with them," Reid said. "They weren’t too happy that we knocked them off (18-13) over here. I’m not sure a whole lot of people expected that to that point last year. Loudonville is a solid, physical club."

Jonathan Alder at North Union

• Scouting Jonathan Alder: The Pioneers (2-1) own wins over Fairbanks 47-0 and Buckeye Valley 56-35, but lost 42-0 to recent Central District power Bloom-Carroll 42-0 ... Alder and North Union, while in separate league divisions, migrated to the Central Buckeye Conference from the MOAC ... Cameron Jewell is the CBC's top rusher with 573 yards, while Ty Moore is second in tackles with 36 and Johann Boeckl is tied atop the league with three interceptions.

• Scouting North Union: The Wildcats (1-2) have lost their two games to Pleasant and Zane Trace by a combined nine points ... Carter Skaggs is an All-Ohio punter who is averaging 40.2 yards per punt so far this season ... As a quarterback, he is 34-for-50 passing for 467 yards ... Nolan Draper leads the CBC in interceptions with three and the team with 11 receptions ... Tyler Krebehenne and Cameron Osborne are NU's top tacklers with 23 apiece.

rmccurdy@gannett.com

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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Pleasant-Highland highlights Week 4 football slate from around area