High School Football Preview Week 6: FAC action set to start for ’26 season 

The high school football season is entering the second half of ’26 season on Friday night, and with that, the Frontier Athletic Conference is set to start its 10th season of conference play in the six-team conference. 

Currently after five weeks of non-conference play the Chillicothe Cavaliers are 5-0, while the McClain Tigers and Miami Trace Panthers are next with a 4-1 mark in their non-conference games. Then it is the Jackson Ironmen with a non-conference record of 3-2, followed by the Washington Blue Lions at 1-4 overall, and the Hillsboro Indians are 0-5.

Though each team has played a variety of different levels of opponents in their non-conference schedule, now it is time to see who the best team in the conference really is. 

Jackson has won the conference for the past five consecutive seasons with an FAC record of 25-0 from 2021-25, and they have clinched at least a share of the FAC championship seven of the past nine seasons, sharing the ’18 championship with Hillsboro as both teams were 4-1 that season. 

As for the ’26 season, the first slate of FAC games — which comes in Week 6 of the overall season — will have the following games: 

- Miami Trace at Jackson 
- Chillicothe at McClain
- Hillsboro at Washington. 

This should be an interesting evening of high school football, to say the least. These games in Week 6 will start setting the tone of where some teams stand and how they also can compete in the FAC. 

Below are the points scored (first) and points allowed through five weeks of the football season for the FAC schools:

- Chillicothe        (192-85)
- McClain           (197-51)
- Miami Trace    (177-90)
- Jackson          (153-97)
- Washington     (134-146)
- Hillsboro         (94-249)

When looking at the scores of Chillicothe, they have scored 26 or more points in four of their five games played, they have one shutout, and they have allowed no more than 33 points in a game once this season, and that came this past week against the Wilmington Hurricane. In that game, Chillicothe running back Cartae Ligon scored eight total touchdowns for a new CHS single-game record.  

The Cavaliers also will be playing their fourth consecutive road game when they visit McClain on Friday night, as they have played (and defeated) Western Brown (56-21), Hamilton Township (14-13) and Wilmington (62-33) the past three games. 

Speaking about the McClain Tigers, they lost a close game in OT last Friday night against the Circleville Tigers at 28-21, as MHS had one of the best quarters played I’ve seen all season, scoring 21 points in their second quarter. This is an improved McClain team from a season ago, and it is a tough road ahead with Chillicothe visiting as they have multiple players who are receiving Div. I offers. 

All of that said, you can’t underestimate the Tigers, because after seeing them twice this season, they play very hard and have a roster who loves to play football. They have awesome community support, and it was evident during their homecoming game last Friday against Circleville. 

The Hillsboro Indians are coming off a game playing one of their tougher opponents to date, as they lost last Friday to the Williamsburg Wildcats at home by a 49-14 score. The Indians have scored at least two touchdowns in all but one game this season, and they are battling multiple injuries that are keeping starters off the field. It isn’t an ideal situation to have your starting quarterback/linebacker-safety out all but a handful of quarters thus far this season due to an injury. 

As for Hillsboro’s opponent, the Washington Blue Lions, as they have one win this season. The Blue Lions are coming off a game where they lost 28-14 to the West Jefferson Roughriders. WCH has lost their past two games, but in all but one game this season they have scored no less than 20 points. 

Jackson enters Week 6 with a 3-2 record with a three-game winning streak happening from Week 2-4. They have played a very strong schedule facing teams like Unioto, Wheelersburg and Ironton in three of their games this season. In facing Miami Trace in Week 6, this could be the standout game of the week for the FAC. 

As for Miami Trace, they have won their past three games, and in those games they have won by scores of 38-7 over Logan Elm, 42-13 against Batavia, and this past Friday it was a 42-21 winner over Western Brown. Miami Trace is a solid football team, and their game this Friday against Jackson will allow everyone to see where each other stands at the start of conference play.

Random Notes
- The passing leader through five games (of the four teams who have submitted stats for all 5 games) is Washington’s Sam Pfeifer with 1,076 yards in the air — going 83-of-140 — along with 13 touchdown passes. 

- McClain QB Hudson Lovett has 952 yards passing (61-of-97) with 11 touchdown passes. Lovett has also rushed for 442 yards on 50 carries with nine touchdowns. On defense, Lovett had four interceptions. 

- Miami Trace running back Julian Baker has 751 yards rushing in four games with 13 touchdowns. 

- Hillsboro’s Tre Captain — playing QB and RB this season — has rushed for 729 yards in five games, while scoring eight touchdowns. 

- In four games this season, Washington’s Aden Osborne has 23 receptions for 340 yards with seven touchdowns. 

- Washington has a second receiver with over 300 yards passing, and that’s Champ Walters with 24 receptions for 328 yards and three touchdowns. 

- McClain’s Leiland Bond has 15 catches this season for 307 yards with five touchdowns receptions. Teammate Gavin Anderson also has caught for 300-plus yards (302) with five TD catches. 

- In the defense numbers listed on the FAC site, McClain sophomore Bryson Bihl leads with four sacks. 

- The solo tackles leader listed on the FAC page is Wesley Gibbs of WCH with 33 solo, plus 38 assisted, for a tackle total of 71. 

• Final Thoughts 

This first week of FAC play brings the fall season with us, and it is now starting to feel like “football weather” in Ohio. Fall is here, and this is the part of the season where we see which teams really stand out in the conference as many of them are vying for a possible spot in the playoffs. 

Enjoy the football this Friday night. 

Stephen Forsha is the sports editor of The Highland County Press