POMEROY — Two teams with explosive offensives will clash this Friday night when the Nelsonville-York Buckeyes invade Bob Roberts Field in Pomeroy to play the Meigs Marauders.

The Buckeyes come into the contest with a 4-0 mark, while the Marauders are 1-3 on the season. The Buckeyes won their first TVC game over Wellston last Friday 38-7, while Meigs lost to an impressive Athens team by a score of 58-18 in The Plains.

Both teams have shown that they can move the ball and score with anyone, while the Buckeyes feature on the of top defenses in the area, and Meigs has had problems at time on defense.

The contest will feature two of the best tailbacks in Southeastern Ohio in the Buckeyes Derek Arnold and the Marauders Jeremy Smith.

Arnold a 5-foot-9, 200 pound senior has rushed for 614 yards in 92 carries and seven touchdowns. He leads the Buckeye ground game that has rushed for 921 yards in 143 tries. Arnold had two kickoff returns for scores last year at Buchtel against Meigs, to lead the Buckeyes to a come from behind 30-28 win.

Nathan Dean an 5-foot-9, 170 pound sophomore will call the signals for the Buckeyes, Dean is 29 of 43 in the air for 311 yards, four interceptions and a pair of scores.

On defense the Buckeyes have given up 852 yards and only 39 points (9.75) for the year, while scoring 21 points a contest.

Meigs on offense has scored 126 points (31.5), but are giving up 35.25 points a contest. The Marauder defense has played better the last couple of weeks against the run, but last week the speed and quickness of the Bulldogs enabled Athens to break the big play against Meigs.

Smith lead the Marauder ground game with 701 yards in 81 tries. averaging 8.7 yards a contest. Wingback Cody Laudermilt has chipped in with 175 yards in 13 tries.

Senior signal caller Jacob Well is 28 of 81 for 542 yards and five scores. Well’s favorite receiver has been junior Cameron Bolin with 11 catches for 202 yards and three scores. But Bolin suffered a fractured leg on the games third play at Athens last week and is expected to miss the rest of the season. Caleb Davis has caught eight passes for 210 yards and two scores.

The game Friday evening will be the first time the Buckeyes have made the trip down State Route 33 to Pomeroy in three seasons. Because of a scheduling problem when Athens went into the Ohio Division, the Marauders have had to play at Nelsonville-York the last two seasons.

The Buckeyes are 17 and 12 all time against the Marauders, with the last Marauder win coming in 1999 a 34-14 win over the Buckeyes. So the Marauders will be looking to end a nine game losing streak to their Athens County neighbors. Kickoff is 7:30 PM from Bob Roberts Field in Pomeroy.