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Home cooking for Wood County teams in Week 5

PHS, South, Williamstown on own turf

Photo by Jordan Holland Marietta wide receiver Tanner Stack turns up field, while pursued by St. Marys’ Anthony Wince during the teams’ Week 4 matchup. Stack and company face Parkersburg High School at 7:30 p.m. tonight at PHS Stadium Field.

PARKERSBURG — Football fans of six different teams take over Wood County tonight as three local squads have home games.

Parkersburg High (1-2) and Marietta (3-1) meet for the 114th time at 7:30 p.m. this evening on the turf inside PHS Stadium Field. Both the Tigers and Big Reds enter the contest on losing streaks, with someone getting the chance to get back in the win column.

Jason Schob’s team thoroughly handled the Big Reds last season, 49-13, but are largely different at the skill positions.

Each team had a slow start last week, so there could be a lot of scoring early between these two rivals.

Expect a well-balanced performance from one or both schools as each has a quarterback who can chuck the pigskin, along with running backs who put their heads down and run hard.

Over on the other side of the Little Kanawha River, Parkersburg South (1-3) welcomes in John Marshall (2-2) for a 7 p.m. start at Erickson All-Sports Facility.

Mike Eddy’s Patriots finally got win No.1 last week, 23-7, over Princeton. Make no mistake, South wants to turn the victory into a winning streak to make up ground in the Class AAA playoff race.

The blue and white, with a touch of red, still haven’t found an identity on offense, but play great special teams and go hard on defense. South scored a touchdown on a blocked punt, while kickerAhmed Ali nailed three field goals including an unofficial school record 49-yard boot, last week against the Tigers.

Finally, Williamstown (1-3) returns home after a tough 28-23 loss to Wheeling Central dropped Terry Smith’s squad to 1-3 in 2017. Waiting for the Yellowjackets is a tough Ravenswood team fresh off a 26-12 victory over Tyler Consolidated.

Red Devil running back Jayden Rhodes has a big part in Kemp Kelly’s offense.

He definitely is someone the Yellowjackets, who will celebrate homecoming, have to soundly tackle after he compiled 222 yards with two scores on 23 carries against the Silver Knights.

There is little doubt Smith and company want to build some momentum with a victory as rival St. Marys looms next week.

Out in West Union at Cline Stansberry Stadium, Doddridge County (2-2) looks to run its winning streak to three-in-a-row against visiting Ritchie County (2-2) at 7:30 p.m.

Other local games this week include (all games at 7 p.m. unless noted otherwise): Ripley at George Washington, 7:30 p.m.; Magnolia at Wheeling Central; Braxton County at Roane County, 7:30 p.m.; Fort Frye at Monroe Central; Paden City at Hundred; Calhoun County at Tyler Consolidated; Warren at Oak Glen; Belpre at Southern, 7:30 p.m., Waterford at Frontier and Caldwell at Shadyside.

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