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BELMONT -- The Indian Creek football team has its work cut out for it this week against undefeated Union Local.
The Redskins will take on the Jets at 7 p.m. Friday night on the road.
Indian Creek enters this week's game coming off a 48-14 loss to Buckeye 8 rival East Liverpool this past Friday night at Kettlewell Stadium.
"Our kids played hard, but the game got away from us early," Indian Creek (1-1) head coach Andrew Connor said. "Our kids tried to fight back. You do want to try and find positives, and one positive was our kids played hard."
Meanwhile, Union Local defeated Buckeye 8 rival St. Clairsville, 40-21, last week on the road down at Red Devil Stadium.
"Union Local is well coached," Connor said. "They play hard. They play physical. They run the football. They play good defense. They are a very-good football team. They are good in every aspect of the game, and Coach Thompson deserves credit for that."
Senior standout Brody Perzanowski leads the way on the ground for the boys from Belmont County.
"He is a very-good downhill runner," Connor said. "He gets low to the ground. He's a force for them. We are going to have to tackle. They are physical, and we are going to have to be physical. Their offensive line is good. They are an old-school football team with their running game."
Union Local shut out Warren, 34-0, in Week 1 on the road.
"Defensively, they run a lot of 4-2-5," Connor said. "They get to the ball. They have some good athletes. They are big. They do a good job. They don't do a lot of things, but what they do do, they do well. They are well coached, and they are disciplined."
Indian Creek opened the season by knocking off Cambridge, 49-36, at home.
The Redskins and Jets have played two hard-fought games the past two seasons with each team coming away with one win. The Red-and-White defeated Indian Creek, 27-26, two years ago at home, while the Red-and-Gold defeated Union Local, 23-15, last season at home.
"We have played two very-good games the last two years," Connor said. "We are going to have to do our part. We are going to have to be physical. We cannot make mistakes. We have to run the football. We are going to have to tackle in space. Our kids understand that. We had a great practice today. They have accepted the challenge we are going to have Friday night."
The game will be the first home game of the season for the Jets, and it will be the first time the Redskins have played on grass this season.
"We have two road games where we play on grass," Connor said. "We play Union Local on grass, and we play Bellaire on grass. We have two chances to play on grass. We told the kids we used to play on grass. It's no big deal. We don't want to make excuses, and talking about having to play on a natural surface would be an excuse."