Week 4 High School Football Preview: Indians to play at home; Tigers on the road
It is time for Week 4 of the 2026 high school football season, and one exciting aspect for this week is that the Hillsboro Indians will get to play at home for the first time as they’ll be hosting the Warren Warriors. The McClain Tigers will be on the road as they’ll take on the East Clinton Astros in Lees Creek.
• Hillsboro Indians (0-3) vs. Warren Warriors (1-2)
The Indians are looking to gain their first win of the season as they get to play for the first time at Richards Memorial Field after starting the first three weeks of the season on the road.
The Indians, who have lost to Western Brown, Goshen and Waynesville, have been facing teams who have a combined overall record of 7-2 with Waynesville and Goshen both being 3-0.
Hillsboro’s opponent this Friday night, Warren, enters the game at 1-2 overall with their win coming in Week 2 against Morgan by a 28-21 score. This season, Warren has scored a combined 34 points and allowed 72 points in the first three games played.
HHS is 0-3 overall in their first three games, as they’ve battled a number of injuries, including at quarterback. In comparison to their Week 4 opponent Warren, Hillsboro has scored 33 points in the first three games combined, but they have allowed 150 points.
Depending on the health of players, this game has all the makings to be the most competitive game of the season for Hillsboro.
The Indians in the first three games have looked to their rushing attack on offense, as this past Friday (according to Waynesville stats on SWBL website) Hillsboro rushed the ball 37 times for 220 yards, an average of 5.9 yards per carry. HHS in Week 1 ran the ball 50 times for 274 yards, and in Week 2 the Indians had 44 rushes for 247 yards (according to the FAC website).
Warren this season has 107 rushes as a team for 444 yards, in comparison to the Indians, who have totaled 131 times for 741 yards.
The Warriors’ leaders on the stat sheet include junior quarterback Braylen Murry (No. 8), who is 17-of-30 for the season for 167 yards passing with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Murray also leads the Warriors in rushing as he has 57 carries for 219 yards with two touchdowns.
The leading receivers for the Warriors through three games are senior Jayce Hilverding (No. 6) with eight receptions for 66 yards and senior Jaxon Venham (No. 24) with six receptions for 64 yards.
One thing to watch for on Warren’s offense is they have fumbled the ball three times this season on offense, losing all three fumbles to their opponents for turnovers. All three fumbles have been by three different players.
Hillsboro and Warren kick off at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 11 at Richards Memorial Field.
• McClain Tigers (3-0) at East Clinton Astros (0-3)
The McClain Tigers are off to a very strong start by winning their first three games of the ’26 season, with their most recent win being a 56-0 victory over Paint Valley in Week 3.
McClain this season has scored 137 points and allowed just 15 points. This past week, the Tigers had junior Hudson Lovett go 12-of-16 passing for 176 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. He also had four carries for 45 yards. For the season, Lovett is 41-of-62 for 675 yards passing (225.0 yards per game) with a 66.1-percent completion percentage. He has also thrown for five touchdowns and one interception. Lovett has also rushed for 194 yards on 23 carries with six rushing scores.
Others on the Tigers’ offense this season who have collected solid numbers include Bentlay Marsh (14 carries, 151 yards rushing, two touchdowns; four receptions, 62 yards), Leiland Bond (nine receptions, 181 yards, one TD), Hunter Peabody (eight receptions, 85 yards, one TD), Gavin Anderson (12 receptions, 260 yards, three TDs) and Brady Binegar (seven carries, 24 yards, two TDs; three receptions, 41 yards).
Also on special teams, freshman kicker Ross Roman is 17-of-18 in his extra-point attempts.
On defense, Hunter Skaggs leads the Tigers with 24 tackles through the first three games, followed by Bryson Bihl and Holden Lyons with 22 tackles each. Bihl, a sophomore, also has two sacks, while teammates Lyons and Marsh each have 1.5 sacks. Lovett has two interceptions this season on defense, and Binegar has one.
Looking at McClain’s Week 4 opponent, the East Clinton Astros, they have had a tough start to the season as the young team is 0-3 with losses to Miami Valley Christian (40-0), Cedarville (55-12) and Fairfield Christian Academy (25-16).
EC junior QB Kylan Floyd is 19-of-42 this season for 133 yards, and he’s rushed 21 times for 64 yards and one touchdown. Also for the Astros this season, running back LeAndre Robinson had 17 rushes for 127 yards with one touchdown. Colt Jamison for the Astros has two receptions this season for 74 yards.
On defense, Floyd had 40 tackles at linebacker, and teammate Jaxon Manning has 30 tackles in the first three games. Colton Knisley leads EC with 1.5 sacks.
The Tigers kick off against the Astros at ECHS with a 7 p.m. start.
• The FAC schedule for Week 4 (Friday, Sept. 11)
- McClain (3-0) at East Clinton (0-3)
- Chillicothe (3-0) at Hamilton Township (2-1)
- Miami Trace (2-1) vs. Batavia (0-3)
- Hillsboro (0-3) vs. Warren (1-2)
- Washington (1-2) vs. Heath (2-1)
- Jackson (2-1) vs. Western Brown (1-2)