ROLLING OUT OF THE SUNSET — The Big Red football team returned to Harding Stadium last week with a win and will look to be victorious again on Friday night when Dover comes to town for a key Division III, Region 11 match up. - Andrew Grimm

STEUBENVILLE — Fans packing into Harding Stadium on Friday night will be doing so to watch a big game — not just big in terms of a rivalry or its place on Big Red’s schedule, but big for the Division III, Region 11 playoff picture and perhaps one of the biggest match ups in the state this week.

That highly anticipated match up on Reno Field is the annual meeting between Big Red and Dover.

Big Red (4-0) sits No. 3 in the Region 11 standings in the first weekly ratings released by the OHSAA on Wednesday. Dover (3-1) is just a fraction of a point behind Steubenville at No. 4.

Big Red is ranked No. 4 in Division III in the latest Ohio Associated Press poll, up a spot from No. 5 in the initial poll last week. Dover dropped out of the top-10 this week after being ranked a week ago, but still received double-digit votes.

The annual meeting between the tradition-rich programs having a lot on the line is nothing new, in fact, it’s come to be expected.

“This is a great game every year,” Big Red head coach Reno Saccoccia said. “Both teams respect each other, the coaches and the players respect each other a lot and I expect a very good football game.”

Big Red is coming off a 38-8 victory over Pittsburgh USO on homecoming night last week. Steuebenville scored all of its points in the first half in pulling away to enact a running clock and get the reserves some playing time. The victory was the first time Big Red had not trailed, as it had come from behind in its victories the first three weeks of the season.

While it was the most convincing victory for Saccoccia’s club, there are still some things the veteran coach wants to see his team clean up.

“I just think through the first four games we’ve learned our players play hard for four quarters and are resilient,” Saccoccia said. “Win, lose or draw we keep coming after them. We make a lot of mistakes, we haven’t been as clean as I thought we would be, but we have played hard and competed.”

Facing a team like Dover, cleaning up some of those things will be imperative.

“We have to clean up those mistakes, we have to improve,” Saccoccia said. “We have to improve on the little things. The bigger the game, the more important the little things are.”

The Crimson Tornadoes are coming off their first loss of the season, a close 45-41 setback to undefeated Indian Valley, who are ranked No. 4 in Division IV in the latest Ohio Associated Press poll. Dover owns victories over Green (28-24), Canton South (31-3) and West Holmes (42-9) the first three weeks.

“No. 1 it’s their coaches and No. 2 it’s that their players like the game of football,” Saccoccia said of what makes the Tornadoes a challenge year in and year out. “They’re a very well-coached team and their players play with a lot of pride. Their is a lot of pride in the town of Dover.”

Friday’s match up is the 29th all-time meeting between the teams. Big Red holds a series lead of 21-6-1, including a 34-14 victory at Dover a year ago. Dover’s most recent win in the series came in 2021.

Drew Pateur’s model favors the Tornadoes but predicts a mere four-point margin and nearly a tossup, meaning fans could be in for a classic.

The opening kick Friday night is set for 7 p.m.