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WINTERSVILLE -- Both the Indian Creek Redksins and Buckeye Local Panthers head into Friday night's Buckeye 8 showdown at Indian Creek's Kettlewell Memorial Stadium coming off of disappointing setbacks in Week 3.
The Redskins (2-1) dropped their home opener to Alliance after a 2-0 start on the road, coming back from a 20-7 halftime deficit to lead 21-20 in the fourth quarter, just to see it slip away again as the Aviators pulled back ahead for a 35-21 victory.
Buckeye Local came close to getting it's first win last week, but fell 28-21 at Oak Glen in double overtime. The Panthers had 7-0 and 21-14 leads in that game, seeking their first win in more than two seasons.
The Panthers are improving, though, despite being 0-3, and Connor has noticed.
"I'll tell you what, I saw them play in person against Martins Ferry in their opener and we've seen their last two games on film, and they are a much improved football team," Connor said. "Their effort has been great. I think he's (Roger Herbert) done a great job, and you can definitely tell they are headed in the right direction. Their concepts offensively and defensively, you can tell that they are putting the pieces together now."
For the Redskins, the keys to getting back on track will be cleaning up the mistakes that bit them last week.
"We had too many unforced errors that we can't have," Connor said. "We gave up big plays, which is something that we haven't done in weeks previous. We couldn't get off the field a couple of times on third down. We turned the ball over offensively, things that we haven't done the first two weeks that you just can't do in a big game.
"Some of it was just the mental aspect of the game. Some of the things could've just been because of the stress of the game. Whatever it was, that's what our focus has been on this week. We need to become a lot more mentally sharp as we progress into the season."
Connor did like the battle and resilience of his team despite the loss.
"Obviously I'd like to be 3-0, but the one important thing to measure a football team by is reacting to adversity," he said. "We faced some adversity on Friday night. That's a good sign for a young football team to be down two scores and rally back. Even in the fourth quarter down two scores, we didn't quit. We were out there trying to take the ball away from Alliance and trying to score.
"This is a mirror test for us. We need to be able to look ourselves in the mirror on Friday night and say we got better as a football team and as a program."
Coming into Week 4, Indian Creek's Brennon Norris has thrown for 480 yards, including the first 300-plus-yard performance by a Redskins quarterback in six seasons in the loss to Alliance, while completing 39-of-73 passes (53.42 percent) with a pair of touchdowns and a pair of interceptions.
"He played very well and made some very big throws," Connor said. "He was under duress. They came with a lot of different stunts and blitzes, and I thought he did a really good job of picking it up. I thought our wideouts did a very good job of catching the ball. They got themselves open and made catches."
Speaking of receivers, Devon Eakle leads the way for Indian Creek with six catches for 110 yards (averaging 18.3 yards per catch). Aaron Robinson also has six catches for 38 yards. Richie Gualtiere has five catches for 28 yards. Matt Mamula has three catches for 56 yards (18.67 per catch) and a touchdown.
Rushing the ball for the Redskins, Trevor Fante has 293 yards on 76 carries, averaging 3.86 yards per carry with six touchdowns. Jakih Scales has 50 yards on 23 carries.
Offensively, Indian Creek is averaging 250.3 yards and 25.3 points. The Redskins are averaging 159.3 yards through the air and 91 yards on the ground.
The defense has been a bright spot for Connor, averaging just 197 yards and 14 points against. The Redskins are giving up an average of 103 rush yards per game and a strong 94 pass yards against.
"The first score (against Alliance) was a scoop and score we gave up. We gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown, and we snapped a punt over our punter's head to the 1," Connor said. "We didn't help our defense. That 35 points against, I think, is very misleading of what we did in the game."
Seth Richardson has completed 51.7 percent of his passes (15-of-29) while throwing for 240 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions for Buckeye Local.
On the ground for the Panthers, John Marelli has racked up 200 yards on 56 carries, averaging 3.6 yards per carry with a touchdown. He also returned a punt for a touchdown against Oak Glen. Charlie Smith is averaging 5.2 yards per carry with 47 yards on nine carries. Richardson has 29 yards on 15 carries.
Receiving, Josh Dulesky leads the way with six catches for 100 yards and a touchdown. Marelli has five catches for 101 yards along with a touchdown, averaging more than 20 yards per catch.
On offense, the Panthers are averaging 184.3 yards per game, while averaging 9.3 points. On the ground, the Panthers are averaging 96.7 yards per game, while averaging 87.7 through the air.
Defensively, Buckeye Local has surrendered an average of 332.6 yards and 36.6 points against, giving up an average of 216.3 yards rushing. The pass defense has been a strong point, allowing an average of just 116.3 per game.