High School Football Preview Week 7: Indians host homecoming; Tigers travel to Chillicothe

Week 7 is here for high school football in Ohio, and this week the Hillsboro Indians are hosting their homecoming game as they welcome the Washington Blue Lions, while the McClain Tigers are traveling for their Frontier Athletic Conference game against the Chillicothe Cavaliers.

Last Friday night, the Tigers (4-2) lost to the Miami Trace Panthers in their FAC opener by a 29-20 score, while the Indians defeated Chillicothe, 23-17 in overtime to take their overall record to 3-3.

Here is a look at the two games featuring Highland County teams for week 7.

Hillsboro Indians (1-0, 3-3) vs. Washington Blue Lions (0-1, 3-3)

The Washington Blue Lions enter this game coming off a 49-21 loss to the Jackson Ironmen, as they are 3-3 overall this season. This is Hillsboro’s first home game since Week 2.

In their six previous games, Washington has scored 185 points and have allowed 203 in games against London, Western Brown, Marion Franklin, Buckeye Valley, Monroe and Jackson.

Entering this game, Hillsboro is ranked No. 13 in Division III, Region 12, and Washington is also 13th in Division IV, Region 16, with the top 16 teams in each region qualifying for the playoffs after Week 10.
 
In six games this season, Washington quarterback Gavin Coffman is 66-of-137 for 1,225 yards passing with 11 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He also has nine carries for 81 yards, averaging 13.5 yards per carry.

Washington’s leading rusher is Aiden “Rocky” Jones, as he has 64 carries for 390 yards with four touchdown runs. Jones also has 11 receptions for 359 yards with two receiving touchdowns. Jones in ’23 has 1,115 all-purpose yards, averaging 185.8 yards per game.

Mason Coffman of WCH this season has rushed for 81 yards, but also has 23 receptions for 429 yards with the Blue Lions, totaling three touchdown receptions. Isaiah Haithcock has 17 receptions this season 247 yards receiving with five touchdown catches.

For HHS last Friday night, Austin Barrett rushed for 178 yards, giving him six straight games in ‘23 with 100-plus yards rushing in a game. Barrett this season unofficially has rushed for just over 1,000 yards at 1,001 through six games.

The Indians’ defense and special teams stepped up big in week six with an overtime field goal blocked by Jeven Hochstuhl, plus kicker Wesley Bailey made a 40-plus yard field goal which ended up being huge as the game went into overtime.

Hillsboro and Washington are scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m at Richards Memorial Field.

————

McClain (0-1, 4-2) at Chillicothe Cavaliers (0-1, 1-5)

Chillicothe is coming off an overtime loss on their homecoming game against the Hillsboro Indians, and at 1-5 they’ve played a tough schedule, plus they’ve been battling injuries as it was reported nine players were out in Week 6.

McClain enters this game ranked 16th in Div. IV, Region 16, while Chillicothe is 19th in Division III, Region 11.

Quarterback Juan Miller (No. 3) is a Chillicothe player to watch as he made many plays against Hillsboro last Friday night, scoring multiple touchdowns.

For the Tigers last Friday, even in a loss, they still had a game that saw quarterback Drake Stapleton play maybe his best game of the season to date, totaling 219 yards passing (9-of-18) with one touchdown pass and one interception. The QB also rushed the ball six times for 33 yards and had a touchdown.

Receiver Max Eikenberry totaled four receptions for 110 yards with a touchdown catch, while Seth Weller caught two passes for 53 yards. Riley Cummins also had two catches for 20 yards last Friday, plus added one rush for nine yards.

Andrew Potts for McClain caught one pass for 36 yards, and the senior totaled 21 rushes for 65 yards with one touchdown.

On defense for MHS, Jayden Allison, Eikenberry and Cade Sponcil each had five tackles to lead the team, and Kaden Penwell returned to have four tackles on the night.

McClain and Chillicothe are scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. Friday night.