MALVERN — Harrison Central overcame some early mental errors, a subpar week of practice and the emotional hangover that comes from losing one of their own last Friday against Newcomerstown.

The Huskies trialed 20-7 before quarterback Brady Hyre led a comeback, passing for two touchdowns as part of 21 unanswered points to put the visitors up 21-20.

But fate wasn’t with the Huskies as a 10-yard touchdown run and two-point conversion late in the fourth pushed Newcomerstown past Harrison, 28-20.

Hyre threw for 204 yards and two touchdowns to go with two picks on 19 of 27 passing. The Huskies’ passing game accounted for the majority of the yards as the visitors managed just 13 total rushing yards on the ground, hampered by a number of sacks of Hyre by the Trojans defense.

“We had a poor week of practice,” Harrison Central head coach Anthony Hayes lamented.

Physically, the effort was there all week. But the team’s mental acuity was lacking and it showed during the week leading up to Newcomerstown.

The Harrison community was dealing with the loss of one of its students in real time, but Hayes was quick to point out that wasn’t an excuse.

Now after a pretty solid week of practice, Harrison’s attention turns to the Malvern Hornets (1-1) and another road trip to try to get that first win.

The Hornets are coming off a humbling 35-6 loss to Martins Ferry in a game that Malvern was forced to take the field without star running back Aaron Gore (6-2, 205).

Hayes isn’t sure if Gore will be playing Friday, but his team is preparing like he is.

“They are a good team, but when he’s playing, they are a lot more dynamic and versatile,” Hayes said.

Junior Jaxon Jones handles QB duties for the Hornets and has thrown for 123 yards and one TD vs. five interceptions through two games.

“He does a nice job,” Hayes said of Jones. “They lost a four year starter, but he’s another 6-3, 6-4 kid and he’s more of a runner than his predecessor.”

Jones has a dangerous target at his disposal in senior Roy Simmons. Simmons leads the team in receptions (15), yards (107) and touchdown catches (1).

Gore, in the team’s opening-week win, ran for 111 yards and two TDs on just 16 carries, nearly averaging seven yards per carry. His presence will go a long away in taking some of the pressure off Jones.

This is the third year the two teams will meet, with Malvern winning 22-20 and 38-28 in the previous two meetings which took place during the second week of the season.

This time, it’s a Week 3 showdown at Malvern.