Week 4 preview: Early season showdown on The Hill

It has been a long time since Kimes Road had this kind of excitement.

Unbeatens West Muskingum (3-0) and New Lexington (3-0) meet tonight in the biggest game of the season to date, and one that carries plenty of potential ramifications.

The winner takes the early lead in the Muskingum Valley League's Small School Division and grabs valuable points in the playoff rankings, although both coaches downplayed its importance with six games still remaining.

There is no doubting the excitement it is expected to generate, however. West, one of only six unbeaten teams left in Division V, Region 19, is off to its second 3-0 starts in as many years.

"I'm excited and the kids are excited," West Muskingum coach Nathan Brownrigg said. "It's a week where everything matters. As a coach we have to be on point and as a player you have to be on point."

The game is part of a Week 4 slate in the MVL that also features Morgan (3-0) hosting Sheridan (2-1), Tri-Valley (2-1) venturing to Maysville (2-1), John Glenn (0-3) welcoming Coshocton (0-3), Crooksville (0-3) visiting Meadowbrook (0-3) and Philo (1-2) traveling to River View (1-2).

Zanesville (1-2), coming off two straight losses after a rousing win against Newark to start the year, starts Licking County League play with a crossover game at Lakewood (0-3); Rosecrans hosts Steubenville Catholic Central in a nonleague matchup.

Brownrigg's squad enters the first of what figures to be three consecutive weeks of substantial interference from the opposition. Games with Big School Division rivals Philo and Maysville loom in successive weeks, but that is next week's worry.

This week's is the high-powered New Lex offense, led by senior quarterback Lukas Ratliff and hard-charging running back Hunter Rose.

Ratliff is 55-of-76 passing for 905 yards with seven touchdowns and no interceptions — a 3,000-yard pace. Rose is on pace for 1,200 yards rushing with 316 on just 39 carries.

"As good as (Hunter) Kellogg was last year, I think Ratliff's athleticism and ability to extend and keep his eyes downfield are a big difference," Brownrigg said. "Just watching them, you'd think they are super pass-happy, but they are pretty much 50-50 run-pass. The Rose kid isn't very big, but he's hard to bring down.

"It's a huge challenge but one we're excited about," Brownrigg added. "Games like this are why you play and why you want to coach. It's probably one of the biggest games we've had on The Hill since 2009 (when West last made the playoffs)."

West, which played without quarterback Rashid Sesay last week against Cincinnati Shroder, is led by running back Ty Shawger, who has 264 yards on 40 carries and six catches for 121 yards and 3 TDs. Opponents have managed only 208 yards per game.

New Lex coach Kevin Board has warned his team to stay focused on the short term, even if many others are already looking into the future for them.

"We were 2-1 heading into this game last year and people were saying we were really good, and we wound up losing," Board said. "The only ranking that matters is in seven weeks. If we lose the next seven, it doesn't matter. We have to stay hungry."

Last year's game at Jim Rockwell Stadium was one of the Tornadoes' most exciting wins, one that All-Ohio linebacker Harley Hopkins saved with a fourth-down tackle short of a first down on the game's final drive.

While West went on to a 6-4 campaign, the Panthers never recovered, managing just one more win — a 34-0 win against winless Crooksville.

Board feels this team is better, particularly with the intangibles. He singled out senior Ryan Hobbs for his maturity, leadership and willingness to sacrifice his personal statistics to help the team in other areas.

"A lot of these guys are 3- and 4-year starters," Board said. "We underachieved last year so bad — there's no way we should have been a 3-7 team. Had we won (the West M game), we'd probably still have been in the playoffs, regardless. Some guys have really grown up."

sblackbu@gannett.com; Twitter: @SamBlackburnTR

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Week 4 preview: Early season showdown at West Muskingum