WINTERSVILLE — For a fourth year in a row, the Brooke Bruins and Indian Creek Redskins will face off.

The last three meetings have all been decided by seven points or less. When the teams take the field Friday at Kettlewell Memorial Stadium, the coaches expect another good game in the latest edition of the rekindled rivalry.

“Ever since we picked them back up, the games have been super,” Indian Creek head coach Andrew Connor said. “We’ve won at their place twice, and they’ve won here once. I expect that same type of game. Since we’ve resumed the last three years it’s been decided by a score or less.”

Last year’s game was a 21-14 Redksins win at Brooke. In 2015, Brooke pulled off a 14-7 victory at Indian Creek. In 2014, the first year the rivalry resumed, Indian Creek snuck out of Brooke with a 9-8 win over the Bruins.

“I think it’s a great game for both schools,” Brooke coach Mac McLean said. “If you go back to the old Brooke-Wintersville rivalry back in the 80’s, I think there are a lot of connections between the families and the the towns. There are a lot of retired steel workers who get to run into each other with this matchup. It’s a good thing for both schools, and it’s good football.”

It is a pivotal game for the course of both seasons. Indian Creek fell to 3-2 after dropping a close, back and forth game 34-28 at St. Clairsville last Friday. Brooke picked up its first win of the season at home over Pittsburgh Perry to improve to 1-3 after a slow start.

“It was a real good high school football game,” Connor said. “We made some big plays and got up. They made some big plays to get caught up and went ahead of us again. It came down to an onside kick at the end. I don’t think there is any room for error for anything else if we have any kind of expectation beyond where we are at right now. I think our kids understand the importance of it.”

The last time the Redskins lost, a 35-21 home loss to Alliance in Week 3, they followed it up with a dominating 36-0 win over Buckeye Local, which gives Connor confidence in his team’s ability to bounce back.

“Our kids understand we can’t got backwards, we’ve got to go forward,” he said. “We can’t dwell in the past. It’s one of those things where there is a lot we can build off of as we start a three-game home stand. We don’t want to lose two games in a row. I think it’s always a test to where you’re at as a program and a team to see what you do after you lose a football game.”

Connor also knows that Brooke’s 1-3 record is deceiving when the level of the Bruins competition is taken into consideration.

“They’ve played some very good football teams, and they have played them well,” he said. “I think coach McLean does a very good job with his kids. You can tell they play hard and are fundamentally sound. I think people have to look at who they’ve lost to. They’ve lost to Park, University and Morgantown. Those are three very good football teams.”

For McLean, he knows his club has a tall task ahead in the important matchup but has confidence.

“It felt good to finally get a W,” he said. “The kids have been trying for a long time, and we got rid of a lot of frustration and got that monkey off our back. I’m very realistic about the competition we are up against. I know Andrew Connor is a quality coach, and it’s not going to be easy, but I believe we can win. It’s a very crucial game for both programs and a turning point in the season. From my days at St. Clairsville I’m very familiar with Kettlewell, and I expect it to be a hostile environment. I love their band, but I hate to hear them play when I’m standing on the other sideline.”

Indian Creek, traditionally a run-first team, has been getting big performances from quarterback Brennon Norris through the air. The junior has already eclipsed the 1,000-yard passing mark and has completed 71-of-128 passes for a 55.5 completion percentage with five touchdowns and just one interception. Those are some of the top numbers of all the quarterbacks in the area. He is coming off of his second 300-plus yard performance of the season after throwing for a season-high 360 in the loss to the Red Devils.

“He’s got good command of the offense and spreads the ball out well,” Connor said. “It’s a mixture of good pass protection from our line and receivers running good routes. He’s done a very good job being the leader of our offense. Us being able to throw the ball is something that we feel has become a centerpiece to our offense right now.”

His success is helped out by seniors Devin and Devon Eakle. Devin Eakle has hauled in 24 passes for 359 yards and two scores, averaging just less than 15 yards per catch. Devon Eakle has nine receptions for 151 and an average of just less than 17 yards per catch. Also getting the job done catching Norris passes is someone not named Eakle, with junior Matt Mamula also hauling in nine passes for 225 and a pair of touchdowns, averaging 25 per reception.

The Redskins also have the ability to run the ball with sophomore running back Trevor Fante. He has had a nose for the end zone, racking up nine touchdowns and 327 yards on 97 carries. Other threats on the ground include junior Jakih Scales (67 yards on 30 carries) and Norris who has established himself as a dual threat with another touchdown on the ground.

“I think the first thing that jumps off the screen when you watch the film is the quarterback.” McLean said. “He’s playing beyond his years right now. They’ve got threats at every position. I think that is one of the reasons Andrew is so good and has lasted so long there,. He does a great job of adjusting. Right now he’s got a gunslinger and a pack of boys who can go out there and catch it. I’ve also seen on film that he’ll go into a double tight end set, and if he can power run it down your throat, he’ll do that, too. He’s just a good coach.”

Indian Creek is averaging 295.4 yards of total offense per game, 202 through the air and 93.4 on the ground. The Redskins are averaging 28 points per game.

“I’m happy with the fact that if you take away one (run or pass), we have the ability with the other,” Connor said. “In past years, if you were able to take away our running game, we would have been in trouble. I’m happy with where we are at throwing the ball. We would like to get a little more balanced, but we are going to take what defenses give us.”

Brooke is led by junior quarterback Gage Yost who has completed 19-of-41 passes (46.3 percent) for 364 yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions.

Catching passes from Yost are seniors Ethan Secrist and Tripp Moore. Secrist is up there statistically with Devin Eakle as one of the top pass catchers in the area with 17 catches for 376 yards, three touchdowns and an average of 22.1 yards per reception. Moore has seven catches for 88 yards and a pair of touchdowns, averaging 12.6 yards per reception.

Rushing the ball, junior Dalton Valero’s 83 yards on 25 carries for an average of 3.3 per carry leads the Bruins. Junior Kenton Conley and sophomore Max Camilletti each have touchdowns for Brooke, with Conley racking up 65 yards on 20 carries for an average of 3.25 per and Camilletti putting up 63 yards on 28 touches. Yost also gets involved in the ground game with 38 rushing yards and a score of his own.

“We’ve got to be able to stop what they do,” Connor said. “They’ve got a lot of different running backs that they get involved. Their quarterback throws a nice ball, and they’ve got some nice tall receivers.”

The Bruins average 219.8 yards per game of total offense, 78.8 on the ground and 141 through the air. Brooke is averaging 15.3 points per game.

Defensively, Indian Creek has been stout, allowing 15.2 points per game with a pair of shutouts. The Redskins allow 206.2 yards against with 122.3 coming on the ground and 84 through the air.

Brooke’s defense has given up 28.3 points per game, while allowing 341.3 yards per contest (240.8 yards on the ground and 100.5 yards through the air).

“It’ll be tested heavily this week,” McLean said of his secondary. “It’s going to be a test but I think that if we get off to a good start, we will be up to the challenge.”