LEADING THE CHARGE — Catholic Central’s Jimmy Hernon and Oak Glen’s Devan Jusczak have led their teams’ run heavy offenses so far this season and will look to continue that when the Crusaders and Golden Bears meet Saturday night at Harding Stadium. - Andrew Grimm

STEUBENVILLE — Despite a difference in records and places in the standings, fans coming to Harding Stadium Saturday night can expect to see a match up of teams with a similar philosophy.

Those teams are Catholic Central and Oak Glen, and that philosophy is running the football.

The Crusaders, 5-1, are second in the Ohio Division VII, Region 27 standings and for the first time ranked in the most recent Ohio Division VII Associated Press poll coming off an impressive 48-0 win over rival Madonna.

The Golden Bears come to Harding Stadium winless through their first five games, but veteran Central head coach Eric Meek knows that doesn’t mean his group can take them lightly.

“I tell you what, we’re really impressed with their defensive tackles,” Meek said. “They’re going to be hard to move and they’re a bigger school than us. They’ve played a really tough schedule, so this is by no means an easy game. We’ve got to show up and be ready to play.

“I’m sure they’re looking at us as a Division VII school and are looking to be able to compete with us so we have to be ready.

“We have a lot of respect for Oak Glen and are anticipating a very good game.”

Meek and Oak Glen head coach Doug Taylor go way back, making for an interesting match up of grid bosses manning the sidelines Saturday night.

“Coach Taylor is a very good friend of mine, he’s an outstanding coach,” Meek said. “He was my offensive coordinator at Weir High and we’ve stayed very close since. We coached against each other when he was at Madonna and I was at Toronto and after that, we actually worked on the radio together as part of the same radio crew doing games when we were both out of coaching for a couple years.

“We know each other well and know what each other likes to do.”

After a loss to Strasburg all the way back in Week 2, Central has rattled off victories in four-straight games and seemingly gotten stronger and stronger as they’ve went.

They still have some big games in front of them, however, as the push toward the playoffs takes shape.

“We’ve got to keep moving now, it’s October and we tell the kids in October you’ve got to turn it up a notch,” Meek said. “We did some rehabbing and extra stretching (Monday), it’s the time of the year where you have to be smart. We’re fairly healthy overall, and I think that’s because we pace ourselves.

“The bottom line is the last four ball games, from a physicality standpoint, we’ve really took control.”

As mentioned before, both teams are run-heavy offenses. The Crusaders run the ball on about 80 percent of their snaps, while Oak Glen runs it at an even higher clip at nearly 90 percent of their plays.

Central averages 223 yards per game on the ground, led by Jimmy Hernon’s 774 yards and 12 touchdowns through six weeks, while Tommy Pergi has 375 and three scores.

Oak Glen, whose losses have come to Weir High, St. Marys, Edison, Toronto and Berkeley Springs, averages 178 yards per game on the ground led by 415 yards and three scores from Devan Jusczak. Josh Maher has 216 yards and two touchdowns as well.

“They’re very similar to us in how they like to run the football,” Meek said. “It’s going to be kind of an old school football game, the thing is we have to keep them from busting a big run, their tailback (Jusczak) is extremely fast and we can’t let them drive the ball on us.

“Our game against Ashtabula St. John’s was six possessions both ways, low scoring and a grind-it-out type of game and that’s what I’m sure Oak Glen is going to try to do and it wouldn’t shock me to see that kind of game end up happening because they’re big up front, our defense has played well and both teams want to run the ball.”

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