RICHMOND — The Anthony Pierro era of Edison football began with a win last week against Shenandoah, however, the Wildcats face a challenge this week as Route 43 rival Carrollton comes to town.

The Wildcats and Warriors are set to kick off at 7 p.m. Friday night out at the Edison Unified Sports Complex.

Last week, the Wildcats took down the Zeps by a score of 35-14

“We came out of the gates and played physical,” first-year Edison (1-0) head coach Anthony Pierro said. “We executed our gameplan. We had some issues in house, and I thought we did a good job of handling those. We started the second half off a little sluggish, but later on in the half we were able to get our running game going and we were able to pull it out. We are going to have to play a complete game and not just bits and pieces.”

While Edison came out on top in Week 1, the same cannot be said for Carrollton as the Warriors dropped their season-opening game to East Liverpool, 23-12, at home.

“Carrollton lost a tough game to East Liverpool,” Pierro said. “They gave up a kickoff return, and they fumbled the ball inside their own 20. They could have easily won that game. They are a tough team.”

The Warriors kicked two field goals in the first quarter to take a 6-0 lead before the Potters tallied the next 16 points.

“They like to run and pass,” Pierro said. “They run RPOs. Their quarterback is 6-3 or 6-4, and he can throw the ball. They run the same scheme as us. Coach (Storm) Hill is a good friend of mine. He is going to have his team ready. We are going to have to be ready. We are going to have to be ready for a war Friday night.”

Defensively, the Warriors are solid up front and they like to put pressure on the quarterback.

“Defensively, they sit in their 4-3,” Pierro said. “They blitz their linebackers. Their defensive ends are really good play. They play tight end on offense. We have to do a good job against them. We can’t let them wreck our plays. We have to do a good job with our pass protection, and we have to do a good job in our running game. We have to do a good job against them.”

The Wildcats are going to need strong showings from quarterback JD Henderson and running back Brett Hellyer to come away with their second victory of the season.

“We put a lot of pressure on our three-year starter at QB – JD (Henderson),” Pierro said. “We give him a lot of leeway. We have to execute our gameplan. I really like our running back – Brett (Hellyer). We want to be 50-50. We need JD to play well like we coach him to do. I think he is one of the best quarterbacks in the valley. He is a good quarterback. We play well when he plays well. ”

The Warriors and Wildcats played four straight seasons from 2012-15 with Carrollton winning all four games (55-0, 39-25, 46-13 and 35-0).

“When I had a chance to make the schedule – I used to coach out at Carrollton before coming here – I thought the same thing,” Pierro said about being surprised that Edison and Carrollton don’t play every year. “I have no idea when the last time Carrollton and Edison played in football.

“I am happy we were playing this year, and we are going to be playing for a long time. I think we are going to be able to draw big crowds at either place. I think it is going to be a great atmosphere. It is going to be exciting to play them. We should be playing them, and it is going to happen. They are 20 minutes away. It is better to play them then having to travel. You don’t know what kind of crowd you are going to get when you travel.

“Carrollton is a good team. We want this challenge. It is going to be a tough game. It is going to show where we are and what we still need to work on in the future.”