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BOWERSTOWN -- The Madonna football team made its second long trip in three weeks of action last week going all the way to Maryland.
The Dons fell in that game at Southern Garrett, but have already shown this season they have the ability to bounce back.
They will look to do that again this week when they make another, though much shorter trip, to take on Conotton Valley.
"It was a tough road trip down there," Madonna head coach Shawn McKinnon said. "We played a pretty big school. Southern Garrett hasgot 600-plus kids in their school. They're single A in Maryland, but probably would be a triple A school here in West Virginia.
"We went down there, we tried our best to compete, but they were just bigger than us and a little more physical than us. We made some mistakes that really cost us, some blown coverages, just messing up on offense and not knowing plays and things like that.
"This week we tried to get back to the basics and really rep the basic stuff so we can go out and be able to compete against Conotton Valley."
The Rockets come into the match up with a 2-2 record.
They have wins over Tusky Catholic and Bishop Rosecrans in their first two games of the season, but dropped their last two games to Newcomerstown and Strasburg.
Friday night's game out in the Leesville Lake watershed area will be the Rockets first home game of the season as they have played their first four on the road.
The Rockets are yet another in a string of unique offenses the Dons have had to prepare for.
After East Hardy's more conventional offense in Week 1, an opponent that spread the field in Van two weeks ago, and a Wing-T style offense last week, the Dons will have to get ready to spend much of Friday night's game defending the pass as Conotton Valley throws the ball on nearly 75 percent of its snaps, has thrown for over 1,000 yards already and actually has netted negative rushing yards on the season.
"They spread you out and they're looking to throw the ball. I wouldn't be surprised if they throw 40 to 50 times," McKinnon said. "They're looking to throw the ball a lot and they can dink and dunk. Their quarterback is really good. He can hit you in the zone and find the soft spots. So they're good. Their offensive line is one of their weaker points.
"They try to spread you out as much as they can and get the ball out as quick as they can into their athletes hands."
Conotton Valley senior QB Kaden Leggett has thrown for 1,052 yards in four games, an average of 263 yards per game. He has completed 64 percent of his passes and thrown for 13 touchdowns and just four interceptions.
He has a QBR of 116.3 and has completed passes to seven different targets.
Leading the way are senior Garrett Reiter and sophomore RJ Higgenbotham, both of whom have hauled in 31 catches each.
Reiter has 563 yards and six touchdowns, while Higgenbotham has 317 yards and six scores.
Reiter is also one of three ball carriers to be in positive yardage on the season, as he also has a rushing score despite the team rushing for -8 yards.
For the Blue Dons, senior runningback Thomas Davidson has led the way, rushing for 421 yards on 33 carries, an average of 12.8 yards per carry. He has found the end zone six times, accounting for all but two of the Blue Dons scores this season.