RICHMOND — The Edison football team is Tony Lazzeri to Harrison Central’s ‘Murders’ Row” of opponents.

The nickname describes the first six batters in the lineup of the famed 1927 New York Yankees. Lazzeri was the No. 6 hitter in the lineup, and the second baseman followed Earle Combs, Mark Koenig, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Bob Meusel in the batting order.

This week, the Wildcats and the Huskies renew their rivalry as the two teams are scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Friday night out at the Edison Unified Sports Complex.

Following a 21-20 loss overtime loss at home to East Liverpool, Edison responded by shutting out Jefferson County rival Buckeye Local, 44-0, last Friday night on the road inside World War II Memorial Stadium.

“I thought we came out ready to play,” Edison (6-2) head coach Mike Collopy said. “We had some concerns. We were on the road, and Buckeye Local plays well at home. We were coming off of a loss, and we were worried as coaches if the kids had their mind rights and if they were in the right head space. I thought we came out and played with a purpose, and we executed on both sides of the ball.”

On the other side, the Huskies enter plays this week riding a seven game losing streak. This past week, Harrison Central jumped out to a 7-0 lead against Waterford only to see the Wildcats tally the game’s final 42 points as Waterford defeated Harrison Central, 42-7, on the road out at Wagner Field.

“We didn’t get anybody hurt, that’s always a good thing,” Harrison Central (1-7) head coach Anthony Hayes said. “We got off to a fast start. We scored a touchdown on our first play. That was big for us. We have been getting off to slow starts, so being able to get off to a fast start was nice to see.

“We saw some good things on film. The kids are better prepared to play. We have to play a lot of younger kids, and they are more comfortable and they are getting used to playing at varsity speed. We are seeing some good things from them, and we are looking to build off that.”

After defeating Claymont, 28-13, on the road to open the season, Harrison Central has lost to Buckeye Trail (4-4), Malvern (7-1), Union Local (7-1), Fort Frye (6-2), St. Clairsville (8-0), Indian Creek (7-1) and Waterford (6-2).

“In the second half of the season, every game is important,” Collopy said. “Every team wants to make the postseason. The longer you are in the season, the more important the game is. This game is no different.

“We are in close proximity to each other. We know their schedule is extremely difficult.

“They are very athletic. They have athletes on both sides of the ball. They do a couple of different things on offense and on defense. They are tough to prepare for. They don’t just do one thing. They have a couple of things they like to do.

“We are playing at home. This could potentially be our last home game. If they win out, they have a chance to make the playoffs. I’m sure that is what Coach Hayes is telling his team.

“We have started preparing for them. We had a good day today, but tomorrow needs to be even better.”

The Redskins lone loss this season came to the Jets on one point on the road, while the Jets lone loss came this past week at home to St. Clairsville. St. Clairsville and Indian Creek play this week down at Red Devil Stadium.

“This is the toughest streak of games I can remember since the inception of our school,” Hayes said. “It has been very difficult. We knew that coming in. We thought we were going to be prepared for it, but obviously with all of the injuries, we have not been healthy. That has made things much more difficult, and things just have not gone our way.

“Football is a tough game. Injuries make it more difficult. We like to play quality opponents to see where we are at. We want our opponents to serve as a barometer for our team and for our program. We just wish things could have been different this season.

“One thing I have really liked is how hard our kids work. They work hard at practice. They come every day and get prepared for our next game, and that is not always easy when you are taking a bunch of thumpings. Our kids come every day, they have positive attitudes and they continue to improve. That is a credit to our kids and to the coaching staff. Our kids and our coaching staff have been doing a great job.”

The Huskies may be on a losing streak, however, the boys from Harrison County still have talent on the roster.

“They have a couple different schemes that they use,” Collopy said about Harrison Central’s offense. “They design things to get the ball into the hands of their playmakers. Blake Adkins is a good player. Jacob Quito – Michael’s younger brother – is dynamic with the ball in his hands. They get him the ball as a runner and as a receiver. Their quarterback is athletic.

“Defensively, they mix up their fronts. They like to bring pressure.

“Historically, they have had way more success against us when we have played each other.

“We are going to keep things simple. Tomorrow is Tuesday, and Friday is Friday. We are going to prepare to play our best game.”

The Wildcats are stout up front.

“The biggest thing that stands out about Edison is the same thing that always stands out and that is their guys up front,” Hayes said. “Edison always seems to have guys with good size, and this year is no different. They’re big, they’re physical and they get after it on defense.

“Their defensive line and linebackers are aggressive in stopping the run, and the guys in the back end do a good job of not giving up big plays. They do not give up big plays on the third level.

“Offensively, they have some really nice playmakers. Their quarterback is really good. He’s athletic. He has a strong arm. They have some good receivers. On film it looks likes they run good routes. They have some good running backs who can carry the football. They have good speed.

“They play hard. They always do. It is their Senior Night. We have to understand that they are going to come out juiced up. We are going to have to be ready to go.”

The Wildcats and Huskies have developed a pretty good rivalry through the years.

“I think we have very similar communities,” Hayes said. “I think we have similar students. I think our communities are similar. At one time, they were a much larger school, and we were a smaller school. Their population has changed. Population in the valley has gotten smaller, and we have moved closer to the same size.

“We play them in multiple sports. We have the same type of kids. It is a nice jaunt down the highway. It’s 25 minutes. I have always thought the travel gate for both schools is really good. Both teams travel well. That is always a bonus.”

Both teams are still in contention to make the postseason, however, the Wildcats sole focus this week is on the Huskies and not the looming postseason.

“This is our most recent game,” Collopy said. “This is our game this week. We do not look further ahead than the next day.

“I’m not going to lie. We have not talked about things in a few weeks. We know what we need to do to get where we need to go.

“We talked about things in the preseason, but we haven’t brought it up since then.

“This is our Senior Night. This could potentially be our seniors last game they play at home. That should be our focus.

“One thing I have really liked is that each week at practice, the kids have been really focused on what we are trying to accomplish each day.

“Monday, you install stuff. Tuesday is your first chance to work on stuff each week. We have gotten sharper every week.

“That is a credit to our kids and to our coaching staff. The coaching staff has done a good job keeping the kids focused on what we need to accomplish every day. We are going to need to be focused this week.”

The Huskies have been spending a lot of time getting back to the basics.

“You look at the defensive side, and we are playing a lot of young kids,” Hayes said. “We are making progress. With the young players, we have to make sure we know our alignments, our assignments and we can’t miss tackles. We are trying to simplify things. We want to make sure we are lined up correctly, we understand our assignment and we make tackles. We have struggled at times making tackles.

“Edison wants to run the ball. They want to run the ball. They’re physical, but with their quarterback, they are capable of changing things up and spreading you out and throwing the football. We have to be ready for anything.

“Offensively, we have to sustain drives. We have to be able to control the clock. We can’t have a bunch of 3-and-outs. We have to be able to move the ball. We need to pick up some first downs, and we need to put ourselves in a position to score. If we are able to score, that will change our mindset. If we do a better job offensively, that will take some of the pressure off of our defense. It will give our defense a break.

“The third area is special teams. We have struggled with special teams. We have had ban snaps over our punters head. We have had kicks blocked. We have give up kickoff returns. We have struggled in every way you can with special teams.

“We just want to focus on the little things. We want to do the little things well. If we can do the little things, we give ourselves a chance. As a coach, all I can ask of them is to do the little things.”

Edison enters play this week in sixth place in the Ohio Division V, Region 17 rankings, while Harrison Central is in 27th place.

The Huskies defeated the Wildcats, 27-12, last season at home.