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WEIRTON -- The Madonna football team is back in more ways than one.
The Blue Dons are back home Friday night for the first time this year and return to Jimmy Carey Stadium with three road wins under their belt and hungry for more as they host Pendleton County in a game scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
Also, the Blue Dons are riding high and haven't started a season with three straight wins since the 2013 Madonna team that won the state Class A championship.
"Our guys are real happy, but they continue to work hard," Madonna head coach Darrin Hicks said. "We had a very good physical practice Monday, but it was also a solid mental practice as well."
Hicks said the Blue Dons are focusing on the Wildcats who scored 61 points in gaining their first win in four starts. The Wildcats blasted into the win column with a 61-24 romp over Bath County, VA.
"Pendleton County is a pretty good football team," Hicks said. "They were a state semifinalist last year and should be feeling pretty good about the 61-point output last week. They have a talented bunch of kids on offense with some big linemen."
The Wildcats have juniors Amil Jackson (5-10, 275 pounds), Phillip Hull (6-4, 280) and Tristan Wagoner (6-6, 350) along with seniors Trevor Wolfe (6-0, 260) and Hunter Booth (6-2, 310) up front. Hicks said Wagoner and Booth are the defensive tackles that the Blue Don linemen will have to contend with this week if they are to keep the spectacular ground game of the last three weeks going.
"They play a four down defensive line with the two big tackles, and their middle linebacker looks pretty stout on the films," Hicks said. "Their two best athletes, though, probably are the safeties, so they are pretty good down the middle."
The Blue Dons have featured a dynamic run game in defeating Tusky Central, Bridgeport and Beallsville with junior running back Donavan Kirby averaging more than 8 yards a carry. He's been so hard to stop that Kirby ranks ahead of all area running backs with 705 yards on 88 carries. His nine touchdowns in three games along with a two point conversion puts him on top among all scorers on the 11 area teams covered by the Herald-Star/Daily Times.
That means Hicks should have enough firepower up front to compete with the big Wildcat linemen.
Opening the holes for Kirby on the Blue Don offensive line are Ryan Ekey at center, Zak Tokash and Mac Raymond at the guards, Bobby Valenti and Max Fiedorczyk at the tackles, and Jimmy DeMarco and Chase Smith at tight end. Hicks said that Garrett Cook and Joey Garan have logged a lot of time on the offensive line, giving him a seven-player rotation that keeps everyone fresh.
Hicks said the Blue Don defense, which is leading the area in team defense with only 446 yards allowed in three games, will have it's hands full as the Wildcats passed for 315 yards in the win over Bath.
"They use mostly a spread offense, but I have seen places on film where they use their size up front, put in two running backs and try to power their way. The quarterback also runs out of that," he said.
The Wildcats lost to Notre Dame, Petersburg (a Class AA school) and Pocahontas County, but scored 30, 21 and 27 points, respectively, in those games. Pendleton has scored 139 total points in their four games, but the defense has given up 157.
Pendleton County could present a challenge for the Blue Don defense that has given up just one touchdown. Another touchdown was scored against the Blue Dons, but it was on a kickoff return.
"We need to keep working on the same things that have been successful for us so far," Hicks said. "We need to protect the football and win the turnover battle by gaining takeaways, control the clock, take the run away from Pendleton, have a strong kicking game, which has been improving with each game, and win the fourth quarter with our conditioning."