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WEIRTON -- The Madonna football team has made it to senior night.
The Blue Dons will look to make it a memorable one for the group of seniots that have helped bring the program back this season when they host Leetonia at Jimmy Carey Stadium on Friday night.
It is the final home game of the season for Madonna.
"It would be special to get these guys a win on senior night," Madonna head coach Shawn McKinnon said. "That's what we're trying to do. We're really pushing at practice. We're getting our game plans in and we really want to try to send the seniors out with a nice good win at home."
The Blue Dons enter the game coming off of a 23-0 loss at Lisbon last week, though McKinnon continues to see things his team can build on and steady improvements.
"I thought our game against Lisbon, we made some really big strides. We played a lot more physical," he said. "We showed up defensively and I think we really put Lisbon on the ropes a few different times. We were able to put some good pressure on Grant Minor and their offense.
"Our biggest thing is to try to get as much experience as we can and put guys in the right positions to be competitive."
The game is a big one for the Bears (3-6), as they enter at No. 16 in Ohio Division VII, Region 25 headed into the final week of the regular season in the Buckeye State. The Bears have not been mathmatically eliminated, but need a victory to have a chance to move into the top 12 and make the playoffs. Joe Eitel's projections have them possibly able to reach as high as No. 11 in the region with a victory.
West Virginia, due to starting the season a week later than Ohio and having a bye week built into the schedule, still has a couple of weeks left on the schedule after this week, making it quite the contrast in scenarios.
"They're fighting for their playoff lives right now," McKinnon said. "I checked with their online rankings, if they can get a win against us, they've got a good chance at pulling out a low seed into the playoffs. In a way, that gives us a little bit of an advantage because it gives us something to play for in a game that's in the middle of the season for us. It's our senior night and we've got an opportunity to knock a team out of the playoffs and send them home.
"I think that's a good thing for us that can help us motivate our guys and build upon what we did last week.
Leetonia is led by senior QB Dylan Johns, who has thrown for 1,499 yards, completing 67 percent of his passes for 15 TDs and nine interceptions. He has also ran for another 528 yards and eight scores, giving him more than 2,000 yards of total offense on the season.
Fellow senior Brayden Gainey has 70 catches for 690 yards and four scores, while Dylan Brown has hauled in 30 passes for 458 yards and six touchdowns.
Freshman DJ Bosak leads the defense with 49 tackles, six tackles for loss, and a sack. Senior Jason King Jr. has three interceptions.
"Coach Matt Altomare has been there for a long time," McKinnon said. " His dad was the head coach at Leetonia for a long time as well. I played against him when I played at Lisbon. He's a good coach and he puts his teams together pretty well. It'll be a tough physical team and that's what we're preparing for."
For Madonna, Thomas Davidson still leads the offensive efforts with 551 rushing yards and seven rushing scores, averaging 6.9 yards per carry. He's also hauled in a team-high 16 passes for 2-4 yards and two more TDs.
A Cunninham leads the team in tackles with 83 total and 16 tackles for loss and eight sacks.
The opening kick on Friday is set for 7 p.m.