CADIZ — The Edison and Harrison Central football teams have turned things around recently with the both the Wildcats and the Huskies coming inot this week’s matchup fresh off road wins.

Edison and Harrison Central are set to continue their annual rivalry at 7 p.m. Friday night out at Wagner Field.

“Harrison Central has won out of their last four games,” first-year Edison (5-3) head coach Anthony Pierro said. “They have figured things out. Their kids are buying in. They need this game. We need this game. They are going to put up a fight at home. It is not going to be easy. It is going to be tough to come in there and get a win.

“They always come to compete. They are physical. If you do that, you are going to give yourself a chance. They have a good athlete at quarterback (Brady Hyre). He is 6-3 or 6-4. He can run, and he can throw. He has good size. We are going to have to battle if we want to give ourselves a chance to come away with a win.”

Edison enters this week’s game coming off a 34-20 win against East Liverpool last Friday night up at Patterson Field.

“We did not have any turnovers, and we were able to force a couple of turnovers,” Pierro said. “We only gave up one big play. We were able to keep them in the huddle, and that led to our win.”

A big moment for the Wildcats in their win against the Potters when running back Brett Hellyer eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark on the season.

“Our running back – Brett Hellyer – has gone over 1,000 yards,” Pierro said. “Our offensive line and our tight ends have done a great job of blocking. He works hard. He’s well deserving of it. He’s a little guy. He takes a pounding. I think guys should get some recognition when they do things like that.”

After winning three of four games to open the season, the Wildcats dropped their next two before bouncing back with win the last two weeks.

“We have come together as a team,” Pierro said. “We knew our backs were against the wall having to deal with the injuries. It was put up or shut up. We are still in position to reach our goal of making it to the playoffs. The kids continue to believe, and it shows on the field. The kids have gone out and gotten the job done. They have stuck with the gameplans. We have good weeks of practice. Now, we have to prepare to play Harrison Central Friday night.”

On the other side, Harrison Central comes into the game off a 29-26 victory against Bellaire last Friday night down at Nelson Field. The Huskies trailed the Big Reds, 19-0, at one point in the game.

“We did a good job defensively,” Harrison Central (3-5) head coach Anthony Hayes said. “We sputtered on offense to start the game. We had some misreads. We just weren’t executing. Defensively, I don’t think we were doing a bad job on defense, but we were pretty bad on offense. We made some adjustments at halftime. The kids were calm. The coaching staff was calm. We were able to come back and get the win.”

A comeback win like that gives teams a big boost mentally as they continue on with their season.

“Hopefully, it teaches us that when we were down at one point, 19-0, you learn you are not going to score 19 points on one play,” Hayes said. “You just have to refocus and keep playing. We battled back. You have success when you compete. When you compete like that, things work out. It shows that hard work pays off. It is something we can build off of. The kids never quit. They stayed after it.”

Edison lost senior standout quarterback JD Henderson to a season-ending injury in the second quarter of Week 5’s 27-10 loss at Caldwell, however, the Silver and Black have responded by scoring at least 34 points in each of the last three weeks.

“They are very big up front,” Hayes said. “They have a good offensive line. They have a running back who has started for three years. They have rangy wide receivers who can go up and high point the ball. Their quarterback – I know they have had to deal with some injuries – but I have been impressed by him (Nolan Haught). I watched his first start on TV when Edison played Toronto. The kid responded. He did not play like it was his first game. I think he’s a multi-sport athlete. He’s used to competing. They have not missed a beat.”

After falling behind by 19 points against Bellaire, the Harrison Central defense only gave up seven more points the rest of the way. The Huskies played well defensively in the team’s first two wins of the season as Harrison Central defeated Akron North, 41-8, and Weir, 30-14.

“Defensively, they change their looks,” Pierro said. “They load the box. They are good tacklers. They get downhill. They are not timid. Teams have manned up against us, and they have packed the box. We are going to have to be prepared for that. We are going to have to come up with some wrinkles to keep them off-balance. We don’t want to be too predictable. As our offensive coordinator, it is my job to make sure we keep mixing things up.”

Harrison Central’s lone loss in the last four weeks came two weeks ago against Indian Creek, 41-28, in a high-scoring affair.

“Against Indian Creek, they threw the ball 45 times,” Pierro said. “They threw the ball because they were down. In the last game, they threw the ball 20 times. They do what the defense gives them. They can throw, or they can run and go yard by yard. They can do either or depending on the situation. We have to be prepared for both. We want to stop one and force them to do the other. We don’t want them to be 50-50. We want to make them one dimensional.”

Defensively, the boys from Jefferson County have allowed 20 or fewer points six times with Edison going 5-1 in those games.

“They are very aggressive,” Hayes said about the Edison defense. “They have good defensive tackles. Their defensive ends get after it. Their linebackers go after the ball. They hit you. They want to stop the run. Their secondary has the wide receivers in it.

“They are well coached. The last four, five, six years, they have had some really good teams. We are going to have our hands full Friday night.”

For the Wildcats, a successful Friday night begins with a good week of practice.”

“For us, we have to have a good week of practice,” Pierro said. “The kids are believing. We are going to have to execute the gameplan. We have become one unit. We were one unit before, but we really have become one unit. We have faced some adversity, and we have come together. We are going to have to play fast, and we are going to have to play physical. We are worried about ourselves. We trust one another.”

The Huskies are looking to playa full 48 minutes against the Wildcats.

“We just have to keep swinging,” Hayes said. “We have to keep swinging from the first whistle to the last whistle. The kids don’t have to do anything special. We just want them to do what they are coached to do. We want them to just do their job. We are going to have to tackle well in space. Offensively, we’re going to have to drive the ball. We’re going to have to take what the defense gives us.”

Edison enters play this week in 11th place in the Ohio Division V, Region 17 playoff rankings. The top 12 teams in each region qualify for the playoffs this season with the top four seeds in each region receiving a bye in the first round.

“It is a little easier this year because we control our own destiny,” Pierro said. “We only have to worry about ourselves. We don’t have to worry about what other teams are doing. That takes us some of the stress. We just have to take care of business. We are headed in the right direction. We talk about it briefly on Saturdays, but that is as far as it goes.”

Harrison Central heads into this game on the outside looking in as the Huskies find themselves in 16th place in Region 17.

“There is nothing more important than playing Edison,” Hayes said. “Going into tomorrow, there is nothing more important than Wednesday and then nothing more important than Thursday. We don’t want to look ahead or look at the scoreboard. We don’t want to worry about things we cannot control. We only want to worry about the things we can control. We can’t worry about results. It is very important for us to worry about what we can control and that is our attitude, our effort and our preparation. That is what we are focused on.”

The outcome of the game will play a key role in determining the playoff picture in the region.

“We look forward to competing Friday night,” Hayes said.