High School Football FAC Pregame Notebook: Week 1
The Frontier Athletic Conference begins year six of football competition as a conference, with three schools hiring new head coaches this offseason. Chillicothe hired Scott Bartholomew to replace Doug Pryor Jr., McClain officially hired Keith Penwell as their head coach after he took over in the second half of the season as their interim head coach, and Hillsboro hired Nathan Horne to replace Jack O’Rourke after he officially resigned this offseason.
Those three head coaches join Andy Hall at Jackson, Jerry Williams at Miami Trace and Chuck Williamson at Washington.
Below are the FAC standings from 2021:
Jackson (5-0)
Miami Trace (4-1)
Chillicothe (3-2)
Washington (2-3)
Hillsboro (1-4)
McClain (0-5).
Here are the combined FAC records from 2017-21 for the conference:
Jackson (22-3)
Chillicothe (19-6)
Washington (14-11)
Hillsboro (10-15)
Miami Trace (9-16)
McClain (1-24).
The FAC champions list is:
2021: Jackson (5-0)
2020: Chillicothe (5-0)
2019: Jackson (5-0)
2018: Hillsboro (4-1), Jackson (4-1)
2017: Chillicothe (5-0).
Now for the fun part … and that is Week 1 is here and regular season games are taking place for the Frontier Athletic Conference in 2022. Last year the champions were the Jackson Ironmen, followed by Miami Trace as the league runners-up.
The following is the Week 1 schedule:
- Chillicothe Cavaliers at Teays Valley Vikings
Chillicothe is coming off a 5-4 season in 2021 and a third place finish in the FAC. That resulted in changes being made at head coach. with Scott Bartholomew being selected as the new head coach. Last season, the Cavaliers lost their season opener to Teays Valley by a 28-17 score, losing the past two meetings between the two schools.
- Hillsboro Indians at Western Brown Broncos
The annual season-opening game for the Hillsboro Indians and Western Brown Broncos will be played in Mt. Orab Friday night, and for the past two seasons it has been the Broncos winning the game by scores of 62-6 in 2020 and and 62-21 in 2021. The Indians have a new head coach, being Nathan Horne, and for Western Brown, they have a highly touted quarterback in Drew Novak, who in ’21 passed for 5,269 yards with 56 touchdowns and 11 interceptions as he was 344-for-512 passing in 14 games played. For his career, the Western Brown quarterback has passed for 7,812 yards during his sophomore and junior seasons.
- Jackson Ironmen at Logan Chieftains
Jackson enters the ’22 season as the reigning FAC champions, and they are coming off a very solid season that saw them finish 11-3 overall, but play in four playoff games, eventually falling to Western Brown by a 35-28 score. Last year, the Ironmen started off their season with a 42-7 win over Logan. This team should be a good group of players again in ’22 and are a team everyone must keep watch for in ’22.
- McClain Tigers at Adena Warriors
This is an annual matchup between both teams to start the season, and last year it was the Tigers who earned the win by defeating the Adena Warriors, 39-20 at McClain Field. That was the start of four straight wins for McClain to start the ’21 season, but they finished 4-5 overall. Adena ended their ’21 season at 3-7 overall. As for McClain, this is a new start for the team with Keith Penwell being the official head coach in ’22 after taking over the team as the interim head coach in ’21 midway through the season.
- Miami Trace Panthers vs. Waverly Tigers
In 2021, the Miami Trace Panthers were second in the FAC with a 4-1 mark in conference games, and overall they finished 7-4 overall with a playoff game against Bishop Hartley. Last season, the Panthers lost their season opener against Waverly, 42-3. Waverly in ’22 ended their season at 9-2 overall, playing in two playoff games.
- Washington Blue Lions at Bexley Lions
Last season the Blue Lions defeated Bexley, 20-13 on the road, as the Bexley Lions went on to finish with a 3-7 overall record. Washington enters the ’22 season opener looking for their first winning season since 2019 when they finished 7-3 overall. The Blue Lions have won three of their past four season openers with consecutive wins over Blanchester in 2018 and 2019, and last season when they defeated Bexley.
For more on the FAC and high school football, please visit: highlandcountypress.com. Follow HCP sports editor Stephen Forsha on Twitter @hcpsportseditor.
[[In-content Ad]]