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BERKELEY SPRINGS -- The Oak Glen football team has shown signs so far this season, however, the Golden Bears have yet to put a full four quarters of play together.
Oak Glen will look to change that this week as boys from Hancock County travel across the state to take on Berkeley Springs at 4 p.m. Saturday over at Morgan Field.
Both teams will be looking to pick up their first win of the season.
Oak Glen enters the game coming off of a 41-21 loss to Toronto last Friday up at the Bears Den. The Golden Bears scored all 21 points in the second half.
"I thought we did a decent job in the first half with our running game," Oak Glen (0-4) head coach Doug Taylor said. "We didn't punt. We went for it a couple of times on fourth down. We had the ball inside their 25, and we turned it over on downs. We got our running game going, but we have to improve the passing game."
Aiden Flowers finished the game with 155 yards on the ground and two touchdowns on 29 carries to lead the way offensively for Oak Glen. Quarterback Logan Murray threw for 33 yards and ran for 29 more, including a touchdown. Anthony Burt tallied 62 yards on the ground on 11 carries.
On the other side, Berkeley Springs (0-4) is coming off of a 54-14 loss at home to Keyser.
Berkeley Springs has a new coach this season as Brooke graduate Wes Eddy has taken over the program from Big Red graduate Terry Rea. Eddy was hired in March after Rea left to become the head coach at Washington High School
"Berkeley Springs is going through some growing pains," Taylor said. "Wes Eddy is their new head coach. He coached at Brooke for a number of years. They are trying to get used to what he wants to do offensively and defensively."
The boys from Morgan County have struggled on both sides of the ball so far this season. The Indians have been outscored 189-27 through just four games.
Offensively, Berkeley Springs is averaging less than seven points a contest.
"They want to run the football," Taylor said. "They're the same as us. They went to get outside with the jet. They like to run their fullback inside."
Defensively, the Indians are allowing more than 47 points per game.
"Defensively, they runa n odd front," Taylor said. "They play two high safeties. They use some trickery with their safety. They move him to different spots on the field. We are going to have to be able to find him. We are going to have to account for him."
Oak Glen has been outscored, 158-41, through the season's first four games. The Golden Bears are allowing 39.5 points per game, while scoring less than 11 points per game on offense.
Flowers leads Oak Glen's rushing attack this season with 253 yards and two touchdowns on 48 carries. Burt has collected 99 yards on 24 carries. Burt also has a team-leading five receptions for 35 yards. The 35 yards is also a team-high.
"For the most part, we match up with them size-wise," Taylor said. "They have a couple of big boys, but they are not overly big. They have good numbers, but they don't sub a lot. They don't use a lot of guys on both sides of the ball. Their guys are fresh on offense and on defense."
The Golden Bears will have to travel roughly three-and-a-half hours to play the game.
"I talked to the kids about that this week," Taylor said. "Neither one of us has win. we're hungry. They're hungry. It's a business trip for us. We want to come out with a victory."
Oak Glen has the long trip planned out.
"We are going to leave early Saturday morning," Taylor said. "We are going to have breakfast. We are going to stop somewhere in Maryland and have a walkthrough before we go to the school."
Oak Glen defeated Berkeley Springs, 42-6, last season at home.
The Golden Bears have not win a game since defeating the Indians as they have lost their last eight games. Meanwhile, Berkeley Springs enters the game on a 14-game losing streak. The Indians have not won a game since the 2021 season.
"I looked at the weather, they have a grass field and they are calling for rain Saturday morning," Taylor said. "We hope it does not impact our ground game offensively. We want to maintain possession. We don't want to turn the ball over.
"Defensively, we can't get hit by the big play. Toronto got three or four big plays against us. They had some big pass plays that broke our back.
"We want to run the ball. We want to control the clock. We want to limit the big plays on defense. Hopefully, the weather does not cause us to turn the ball over."
For the Golden Bears, the game will be a rare one played on a grass field.
"They have a natural grass field," Taylor said. "It's been a long time since we have played on a grass field. They are used to it. We aren't used to it. Hopefully, the field does not become a factor."