Week 3 High School Football Postgame Notebook: Tigers play strong; FAC goes 5-1

The third week of the Ohio high school football season saw the Frontier Athletic Conference (FAC) go 5-1, with McClain, Jackson, Washington, Miami Trace and Chillicothe all gaining non-conference wins. 

The results in Week 3 for the FAC teams were: 
- Hillsboro 13, Waynesville 52
- Paint Valley 0, McClain 56
- Chillicothe 56, Western Brown 21
- Jackson 14, Wheelersburg 3
- Miami Trace 38, Logan Elm 7
- Thurgood Marshall 0, Washington 46

• McClain Tigers score 56 points for first time in over a decade

McClain’s win was their largest margin of victory since Week 4 of last season when they defeated the East Clinton Astros, 54-0. McClain had two shutouts last season (2025), as they also defeated Adena, 20-0. 

This season, the Tigers have allowed a total of 15 points through three games, including the 56-0 shutout on Friday against Paint Valley in what is the final “Battle of 41,” as the series has already been paused after just four seasons, with each team winning twice. PVHS won the rivalry game in 2023 and ’24, while the Tigers won the past two seasons. At least the traveling trophy will have a home in Greenfield for the foreseeable future. 

The most recent time the Tigers scored at least 56 points in a game was back on Oct. 19, 2012, which was a Week 9 win over the Madison-Plains Golden Eagles by a score of 56-22. 

As for how the Week 3 game turned out for the Tigers, they had very nice pass protection from their offensive line, allowing quarterback Hudson Lovett to have another strong outing to start the ’26 season. Lovett in his three games thus far has had individual game totals of 341 yards with three touchdown passes (18-of-25), 158 yards with one touchdown (11-of-21) and 175 yards with one touchdown (12-of-16). That's a total of 674 yards passing (41-of-62) with five touchdown passes in the first three games this season, as Lovett had completed 66.1 percent of his pass attempts. 

The receivers for the Tigers were impressive to see in person for the first time this season. Here are some numbers for McClain’s wide receivers through the first three games: 
- Gavin Anderson: 12 receptions, 259 yards, three touchdowns 
- Leiland Bond: nine receptions, 181 yards, one touchdown 
- Hunter Peabody: eight receptions, 85 yards, one touchdown 
- Bentley March: three receptions, 71 yards
- Brady Binegar: three receptions, 41 yards
- Holden Lyons: four receptions, 38 yards

McClain will be on the road this upcoming week when they travel to Clinton County to face the East Clinton Astros at 7 p.m. 

• Hillsboro Indians have another 100-yard rushing performance 

Even though the Hillsboro Indians are still working to earn their first win of the season, it is still important to see the positive the players are working for in games this season. One of the positives is the big plays for touchdowns the Indians have had this season. 

Two of those big scores have been made by senior Tre Captain, who in two of the first three games of the ’26 season has had a 6-yard touchdown run (at Western Brown) and a 70-yard touchdown run this past Friday against the Waynesville Spartans. 

Captain has had two games of 100-plus rushing yards in the first three weeks, as this past Friday he totaled 106 yards on nine carries. So far in the first three games, Captain has totaled 32 carries for 250 yards with two touchdown runs. Captain at times has also had to play quarterback in the past two games, where in Week 2 he also threw a 30-plus yard touchdown pass. 

HHS has scored five touchdowns in the first three games of the ’26 season with four of the five have come on big gains of 30-or-more yards: 
- Captain, 60-yard run at Western Brown
- Jonathan Malone, 57-yard run at Western Brown 
- Ryker Zink, 33-yard reception (pass by Captain) at Goshen
- Captain, 70-yard run at Waynesville 
- Malone, 4-yard run at Waynesville.

The season is still young for the Indians, and this week they finally get to play a home game at Richards Memorial Field when they host the Warren Warriors of Vincent, Ohio. Warren is 1-2 overall this season, with their win coming in Week 2 against Morgan by a 28-21 score. Warren has allowed 72 points this season, and they have scored 34 points. In Week 1, the Warriors were shut out by Union Local (34-0), and this past Friday night WHS was defeated by Logan (17-6). 

• FAC Football Notes Week 3

- The Miami Trace Panthers bounced back from a Week 2 loss with a big Week 3 win (38-7) against Logan Elm. The road win by the Panthers included Julian Baker rushing for 221 yards and four touchdowns on 13 carries. 

- MTHS QB Baron Phipps finished the win with 93 yards passing and a TD pass, as he was 2-of-5 with no interceptions on the night. He also rushed for 89 yards on 10 carries. 

- Miami Trace also had Evan Parsley rush for 70 yards on three carries. 

- The Washington Blue Lions earned their first win of the season in Week 3 by defeating the Thurgood Marshall Cougars 46-0 the the newly renovated Gardner Park in WCH. QB Sam Pfeifer was 6-of-8 passing for 137 yards with three touchdown passes and no interceptions. He also rushed for 18 yards on five carries. 

- WCH was led in rushing in Week 3 by Jackson Everhart, who had six carries for 86 yards and a TD. Washington’s leading receiver against TMHS was also Everhart, who had two receptions for 65 yards and a touchdown.

- Washington teammate Aden Osborne finished with two receptions for 46 yards and two touchdowns. 

- Chillicothe had a huge win, defeating Western Brown 56-21. This team seems to be improving each week. They feel like they are the team to beat the FAC thus far this season. 

- We can’t overlook the defending FAC champion, Jackson Ironmen either, as they are still a strong program too for the FAC, even after losing roughly 20 players from last season. Jackson defeated Wheelersburg 14-3 in Week 3, which is a good win against a consistently strong program. 

Check back on Thursday, Sept. 10 for the FAC high school football Week 4 Preview. 

Stephen Forsha is the sports editor of The Highland County Press.