MASON — After winning its seventh game of the season and unofficially landing a berth in the 16 team playoff field last week with a 60-0 win over Hannan the Wahama White Falcons will be looking to position itself for a first round home contest when the Bend Area team welcomes once beaten Athens to Bacthel Stadium for a senior night encounter with the Bulldogs.

Through eight weeks in the high school football season Wahama is currently holding down the seventh spot among Class A schools with an 8.13 average rating. While that figure should be enough to earn the Falcons a post-season contest it likely won't be enough to gain a home field game or keep the Bend Area gridders from facing one of the top teams in the opening round.  Unfortunately for WHS six of its 2009 opponents conclude their season this week with five of those games being long-shots to provide the White Falcons with a bonus point.  Only the Eastern-Southern contest is a guaranteed bonus point for Wahama.  To make matters even worse the projected fate isn't very favorable for the locals to gain any bonus points during the final week of the regular season which puts the Falcons destiny in its own hands against Athens and Buffalo. A Friday night victory over Athens, a Class AAA opponent, would give Wahama a total of 12 points while Buffalo will probably have a possible nine points when the two teams meet in the regular season finale.

The Bulldogs will carry a high-powered, 8-1 slate to the Bend Area on Friday with Athens owning successive victories over Gallia Academy (21-0), Federal Hocking (47-7), Bloom Carroll (41-14), Meigs (56-18), Vinton County (42-0), Alexander (33-7) and Wellston (26-0) to open the season.  Nelsonville-York snapped the Bulldogs unbeaten dream season by a narrow 14-13 margin before coach Ryan Adam's gridders rebounded with a 35-0 victory last week over Belpre to gain a share of the TVC Ohio Division crown.  Athens averages 34.8 points per game offensively while giving up a stingy 6.6 points per contest to the opposition.

This will be the second meeting between Wahama and the Bulldogs with Athens returning a number of starters from last years 4-6 squad that defeated the White Falcons by a 21-0 score.  Projected starters for the visiting team should be sophomore Trey Harris (5-10 155) at quarterback with seniors Conner Tope (6-1 165) and Tanner Cannon (6-3 175) the running backs.  The wingback will be senior Shad McCullum 95-10 165) with sophomore Ian Dixon (5-10 150) at wide receiver.  A senior dominated line includes Jon Keener (6-2 275), Doug Chapman (6-3 230), Tyler White (6-0 205) and Vinnie Rider (6-3 225) along with juniors Dana Gilkey (6-0 215) and tight end Joe Germano (6-2 195).

Once again the White Falcons' success this week might well lie in the play of the interior line and the Bend Area defense's ability to stop the explosive Athens offense. Wahama averages 33.3 points per game offensively while the locals defense is allowing 14.7 points per contest. Senior running back Micaiah Branch is 244 yards shy of a 1000 yard rushing season and leads the team in scoring with 92 points on 15 touchdowns and a two-point conversion. Junior Ryan Lee is also closing in on the coveted 1000 yard rushing mark with Lee needing another 341 yards on the ground to realize a 1000 yard rushing season. Senior quarterback William Zuspan has also thrown for over 2600 yards during his career at Wahama.

Seven Falcon seniors will be honored prior to the 7:30 pm kickoff. Unsung heroes from the interior line to be recognized will be Jordan Decker, Ethan McGrew, Kevin Klingensmith, Matt Dangerfield and Colin Pierce along with Branch, and Zuspan.  Kickoff time for Friday night's important senior night contest is set for 7:30 pm.