West M, New Lex ready to start MVL play

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – Friday is week two of the high school football season and it will also be the start of Muskingum Valley League play.

There’s four non-conference games on the schedule, including New Lexington heading to West Muskingum. Both teams are looking for their first win of the year after falling in week one. New Lex opened the year with a 21-12 loss to Fairfield Union. The Tornadoes were topped by East Knox on the road 33-6.

For West M first year head coach Josh Whetstone, this will be his first game in the MVL and his first in front of the home fans.

“We’re excited to come back here. That’s where we want to be. We want to make sure that we’re playing well in front of our home crowd because the bottom line is if you can’t defend your home turf then you’re not going to play well on the road either,” said Whetstone.

New Lexington’s Dave Rupe on the other hand is used to the the MVL slate. He’s been in charge of the Panthers since 2014 and before that was at Crooksville. Despite the fact that the Tornadoes have lost 18 straight games going back to 2015, Rupe says West M has a lot of talent on their team.

“Defensively they have a lot of size. Seems like everyone we play is a lot bigger than us. They definitely have some athletes at the skill positions. With their size and the way that they get to the ball I think it can present some problems for us,” said Rupe.

The game kicks off at 7 p.m. from West Muskingum High School. You can hear play-by-play on Z92 Radio. Pregame starts at 6:30 p.m.