WINTERSVILLE — Indian Creek head coach Andrew Connor and Beaver Local head coach Mike McKenzie have been battling it out on the gridiron for many years.

The two longtime head coaches will renew their rivalry when the Beavers come to town to take on the Redskins at 7 p.m. Friday night at Kettlewell Stadium.

“He’s a good man,” Connor said about McKenzie. “He does a great job. His teams are always well prepared. They play hard. They play physical. It’s usually a great game whenever we play. He is exactly what you want in a high school football coach. He’s hard working. It is a good rivalry.”

Both teams enters this week’s key matchup coming off a win.

Indian Creek (7-0) was tested against rival Harrison Central last Friday night, but the Redskins were able to down the Huskies, 41-28, out at Wagner Field to remain undefeated on the season.

“I think the big thig for us was we faced some adversity whether it was needing a big stop or making a big play offense, and our kids responded,” Connor said. “Harrison Central closed the gap, and our kids responded. We faced adversity, and our kids stood tall. When we needed to get a stop or get a score when we needed to, we were able to do so.”

On the other side, Beaver Local (4-3) defeated Youngstown East, 28-20, last Friday night at home. It has been an up-and-down season so far for the Beavers.

“They play a real difficult schedule,” Connor said. “Their record is not a real indication of how good they are. They have played some tough teams. Coach McKenzie and I have been going against each other for 20 years. He does a great job. He always has his kids prepared. His kids always play hard. Their schedule has forced that up-and-down. Their record is not a good indication of how good they are.”

So far this season, Beaver Local has defeated Shaw (27-20), Brooke (26-0) and East Liverpool (21-12) as well as Youngstown East.

“The power run,” Connor said asked what stands out about Beaver Local’s offense. “They use a lot of formations. They try to create the best advantage they can to run the football. Their quarterback does a good job with the play-action pass and with sprint outs. He has a good arm, so he can hurt you with a big pass play. They want to start off by running the football and then have the passing game feed off of that.”

This year, the Red and White have lost to St. Clairsville (38-7), Salem (46-26) and Union Local (33-14).

“They put a lot guys in the box,” Connor said. “They challenge you to try and throw the football. They’re physical. They’re big. They run to the ball. They tackle well. They tackle well in space.

“They have played all close games this season. We expect the same effort and physicality from them when we play Friday night.”

The battle of the trenches will be a key part of the game.

“It is very important,” Connor said. “In the second half, we opened with a drive where we needed to score. We came out in the wishbone, and we had a 10-play drive. Our line is senior laden. We take pride in running the football. We want to establish the run and feed the passing game off of that. We have been getting 100 yards through the air. We want to set up our passing game off our running game.”

Both Beaver Local and Indian Creek have played Brooke, East Liverpool and Union Local this season. The Beavers are 2-1 in those games, while the Redskins are 3-0. Beaver Local lost to St. Clairsville at home, while the Redskins will take on the Red Devils next week at home.

“We want to run the football,” Connor said. “We want to control the line of scrimmage. We are going to have to play physical. We’re going to need our crowd. It is a home game. Your home crowd brings energy, and we feed off that energy. Defensively, we cannot give up the big play.”

Indian Creek comes into play this week ranked fourth in the Ohio Division IV, Region 15 rankings, while Beaver Local is in 10th place. The top 12 teams in each region qualify for the playoffs this season with the top four teams in each region receiving a bye in the first round.