Fort Frye quarterback Grady Hesson (2) looks to hand off to a teammate during a game against Waterford earlier this season. The Cadets play host to Caldwell at 7 p.m. today in the regional quarterfinals. (Photo by Patricia Miller)

BEVERLY — There shouldn’t be any secrets by now between the visiting Caldwell Redskins and the Fort Frye Cadets heading into Friday night’s Division VI, Region 23 quarter-final at Fort Frye High School.

The two teams play each other every season including this year when back in week number six the Cadets downed Caldwell 31-7.

The win earned a measure of revenge for the Eric Huck-coached Cadet team as they lost to Caldwell 34-27 back in 2024.

The 2025 season has been another great one for Fort Frye who after a week one loss to Barnesville has reeled off eight consecutive wins to earn themselves the number two seed in the tournament and a first-round bye.

That bye gave Fort Frye a week to rest up and prepare for a red-hot team in Caldwell who has not lost since their loss to the Cadets.

Caldwell has won five in a row including last week’s 42-7 win over Grove City Christian.

The Chance Rucker-coached Caldwell team is led by District 12 offensive player of the year Gavin Leake.

In his senior year Leake has rushed the ball 191 times for an impressive 1,927 yards and an even more impressive 30 touchdowns.

Izic Cool will likely be the quarterback for Caldwell while his favorite target has become Brody Chandler who has 47 receptions for 529 yards and five touchdowns.

Caldwell has a strong offensive line led by Charles Gessell and Dalton Egnott.

Defensively the Redskins are led by Owen Hunt with 117 tackles and Jonah Moracco with 113 while Guiler Preston has sacked the quarterback 7.5 times.

Caldwell comes into the game averaging nearly 32 points per game on the season while allowing just under 15.

The two teams played just one common opponent in the Waterford Wildcats with the Cadets scoring a 28-0 victory while the ‘Skins came away with a 21-6 loss.

The Cadets defense allowed just 7.9 points per game on the season and at one time put together a streak of all but 24 consecutive quarters without allowing a touchdown to be scored on them.

Blake Wheeler and Kainan Bradford lead the Cadets with 67 tackles apiece while junior Sam Bricker has 58 tackles including a team-high 16 for a loss.

Tytan Waller handles the place-kicking duties for the Eric Huck-coached Cadets and he has been solid gold as he has connected on all but one of his 34 point after kicks.

Grady Hesson is the quarterback for the Cadets and has passed for 414 yards and six touchdowns on the season while being intercepted jut once.

Senior Tyce Beardsley leads a very strong group of Cadet running backs with 1104 yards and nine touchdowns on just 98 carries.

Gavin Rauch has rushed the ball 86 times for 783 yards and a team-high 12 touchdowns.

STARSBURG (8-3) at WATERFORD (8-2)

WATERFORD — The number two-seeded Waterford Wildcats received a much needed week of rest last week as their strong performance in the regular season earned them a week-one bye in the Division VII, Region 27 playoffs.

Friday night the Wildcats will open regional tournament play when they host the Strasburg Tigers.

The Tigers came into the tournament the number seven seed and advanced to play Waterford following last week’s 28-14 win over Lucas.

Strasburg struggled a bit coming down the stretch as they lost three of their final five regular season games but hope they have righted the ship at the right time.

Waterford finished the regular season on quite a roll as they ended the season on a five-game winning streak.

The Eric McCutcheon-coached Wildcats are led by junior quarterback Hayden Jones.

Jones rushed the ball 116 times for 1136 yards and 12 touchdowns while also completing 42-of-78 pass attempts for 658 yards and seven touchdowns.

The Wildcats at times will move Jones to a running back position and when they do that they will bring Avery Pottmeyer in to quarterback.

Pottmeyer has been superb in his own right as he has completed 31-of-41 pass attempts for 549 yards and six touchdowns.

Trevin Zimmer is a nice compliment in the Wildcat backfield and has rushed for 479 yards and nine touchdowns on just 60 carries.

Weston Fairchild has caught 25 passes for 488 yards to lead the Wildcat receiving squad.

Defensively the Wildcats have been a turnover machine.

Waterford has come up with 15 interceptions on the season with Fairchild notching five of them and Jones four more.

The Wildcats are averaging 39 points per game while allowing their opponents just over 10 points per game.