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RICHMOND -- After back-to-back heartbreaking losses, the Edison football team is looking to get back on track this week against Jefferson County rival Buckeye Local.
The two county schools will renew their rivalry at 7 p.m. Friday night out at the Edison Unified Sports Complex.
Both teams are entering the game coming off a loss. Edison lost 17-14 to East Liverpool on a last-second field goal last Friday night up at Patterson Field.
"I told the kids one play does not determine why you won or lost a game," Edison (5-2) head coach Mike Collopy said. "If you look at just one play, that takes away all the other plays that happened and their significance.
"I was happy that our kids left it all out on the field. That is what we ask them to do. We played with passion. We played with purpose. We played like a team that had something to prove.
"We just came up short. They made a couple more plays than we did."
On the other side, Buckeye Local enters the game coming off of a 42-7 loss to Toronto at home. The Red Knights defeated the Wildcats, 28-20, in Week 6 on the road.
"As I told Timmy Ohalek, they are very well coached," Collopy said. "They are physical on offense, and they are aggressive on the defensive side.
"I really like their quarterback. Their tailback this year was their quarterback last year. He's a nice player. They have got a couple of nice wideouts.
"They play hard. We have watched two films of them, and that is what has stood out. They play extremely hard.
"We are going to have to play with passion, play with a purpose and play with unity.
"We are going to have to take pride in our perperation. Games are won during the week and not on game day. We have to work on our special teams.
"You can't worry about what was positive or negative last week. You have to fix your mistakes. You have to correct your mistakes. You need to have the mindset to improve. We had a good practice today, so we have started the week of strong."
Edison scored at least 34 points in each of the first five games, while Buckeye Local has scored 33 or more points twice.
"They are capable of doing a lot of things," Collopy said. "Their schedule is tough. They had to play Barnesville. Shenandoah is a good team. I'm not going to go through their whole schedule, but their schedule is very challenging.
"We are going to have to be prepared. From the coaches side, we are going to have to go out and coach every rep like that rep is going to make the difference between winning and losing. Hopefully, that trickles down to the players.
"You don't get credit or what you did the week before. You're not ahead to start the game."
The Wildcats are looking to put forth a strong performance in all three phases of the game.
"We have to stop the run," Collopy said. "Defensively, we have to stop their rushing attack. Offensively, we have to sustain drives, and we have to convert in the red zone. We have to take care of the ball.
"Our special teams need to be improved. I think our special teams have improved a lot. You're never completely happy, but we have improved week to week."
The Wildcats defeated the Panthers, 52-14, last season on the road.
Edison's last lost back-to-back games in the final two weeks of the 2020 season. The Wildcats lost three-straight games earlier that year.
Edison enters the game No. 8 in the Ohio Division V Region 17 rankings.