By Frank Sparks, Beaver County Radio
(Brighton Twp, Beaver County, Pa.) It’s time to take our weekly trip around the area and look at this week’s high school football games involving Beaver County and Beaver Valley teams. This week’s football preview is brought to you by McDonald’s.
As always, we start with the Pond Lehocky Game of the Week on Beaver County Radio.
AVONWORTH AT BEAVER
The Avonworth Antelopes make the trip to Pat Tarquinio Field to take on the Beaver Bobcats Friday night.
Avonworth comes into this one at 3-and-1 and has won three straight since opening the season with a loss to Hopewell.
Beaver comes in at 1-and-3, but don’t let that record fool you. The Bobcats have played a tough schedule and are coming off an absolute heartbreaker against Beaver Falls, falling 28-to-27.
Beaver has shown it can put points on the board, but Avonworth has been rolling since Week Zero.
FRANK’S PICK: AVONWORTH 31 — BEAVER 27.
We’ll have the Pond Lehocky Game of the Week for you Friday night on Beaver County Radio. Pregame coverage starts at 6:30, with kickoff at 7:00.
BEAVER FALLS AT FREEDOM
This might be one of the most intriguing games of the night.
Beaver Falls travels to Freedom for the opening of Midwestern Athletic Conference play. Freedom has been one of the great stories of the young season, while Beaver Falls comes in riding the momentum of that dramatic one-point victory over Beaver.
This could be a shootout.
FRANK’S PICK: FREEDOM 34 — BEAVER FALLS 28.
WESTERN BEAVER AT HOPEWELL
Western Beaver picked up its first victory last week, beating Riverside 28-to-10, while Hopewell made a major statement with a 34-to-6 victory over Central Valley.
Western Beaver is 1-and-3, while Hopewell enters at 3-and-1. The Vikings have also been tough at Tony Dorsett Stadium.
FRANK’S PICK: HOPEWELL 35 — WESTERN BEAVER 14.
SHALER AT BLACKHAWK
Blackhawk has been one of the hottest teams in the Beaver Valley.
The Cougars are 4-and-0 and have scored 188 points in their first four games — that’s 47 points a game.
Until somebody figures out how to slow down that Blackhawk offense, I’m sticking with the Cougars.
FRANK’S PICK: BLACKHAWK 42 — SHALER 21.
HAMPTON AT CENTRAL VALLEY
Central Valley looks to bounce back after last week’s loss to Hopewell.
The Warriors are 2-and-2 and return home to face Hampton. Central Valley has shown the ability to both run and throw the football, and I expect a better performance from the Warriors this week.
FRANK’S PICK: CENTRAL VALLEY 28 — HAMPTON 20.
NEW BRIGHTON AT RIVERSIDE
New Brighton heads to Riverside in Midwestern Conference action.
Both teams are looking for a bounce-back performance after losses last week.
FRANK’S PICK: RIVERSIDE 27 — NEW BRIGHTON 14.
ROCHESTER AT SHENANGO
The Rochester Rams travel to Shenango in the Big Seven Conference.
I think this could be one of the tighter games on Friday night’s schedule.
FRANK’S PICK: SHENANGO 27 — ROCHESTER 21.
NORTHGATE AT SOUTH SIDE
South Side is still looking to break into the win column, but the Rams face a Northgate team that has shown it can move the football.
FRANK’S PICK: NORTHGATE 28 — SOUTH SIDE 14.
GROVE CITY AT AMBRIDGE
Ambridge gets Grove City at home Friday night.
The Bridgers have had an up-and-down start to the season, and home field should help, but I’m giving the visitors the edge.
FRANK’S PICK: GROVE CITY 28 — AMBRIDGE 20.
PROPEL-IMANI VS. OLSH
OLSH takes on Propel-Imani at Quaker Valley High School.
The Chargers are trying to get their season turned around, but this looks like another difficult matchup.
FRANK’S PICK: PROPEL-IMANI 30 — OLSH 20.
THURSDAY NIGHT — ALIQUIPPA AT NEW CASTLE
And don’t forget, the football weekend actually gets started Thursday night when Aliquippa travels to New Castle.
The Quips bounced back in a big way last week with a 49-to-8 win over Shady Side Academy.
FRANK’S PICK: ALIQUIPPA 35 — NEW CASTLE 20.
AROUND THE VALLEY
And if we have a little time, here are the rest of this week’s games.
MOON AT WEST ALLEGHENY — an old rivalry gets renewed at West Allegheny. I’m expecting a competitive one.
FRANK’S PICK: WEST ALLEGHENY 27 — MOON 24.
UNION AT CORNELL — Cornell gets Union at home in a Big Seven matchup.
FRANK’S PICK: UNION 34 — CORNELL 14.
ELLWOOD CITY AT SHADY SIDE ACADEMY — Ellwood City is looking for its first victory after an 0-and-4 start. Shady Side Academy is 2-and-2 after losses to Bishop Canevin and Aliquippa the last two weeks.
FRANK’S PICK: SHADY SIDE ACADEMY 31 — ELLWOOD CITY 14.
And finally, QUAKER VALLEY AT KEYSTONE OAKS.
The Quakers head out on the road Friday night looking to get things going against Keystone Oaks.
FRANK’S PICK: KEYSTONE OAKS 28 — QUAKER VALLEY 14.
And those are my picks for another big weekend of high school football around Beaver County and the Beaver Valley.
Our spotlight Friday night is at Pat Tarquinio Field in Beaver for the Pond Lehocky Game of the Week — Avonworth at Beaver.
Pregame coverage begins at 6:30, with kickoff at 7:00, on 99.3 and 95.7 FM, 1230 WBVP, 1460 WMBA and beavercountyradio.com, plus our live video stream on Facebook and YouTube.
Get out and support your local team this Friday night!
That’s your McDonald’s Beaver County High School Football Preview.
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