Sports

Preview: Athens heads north to face Steubenville

Posted on: Thursday, October 2, 2014

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It’s the game where one of southeastern Ohio’s premier teams will face one of the northeast Ohio’s best: It’s Athens versus Steubenville.

“We’ve been looking forward to this game to bring some notoriety to ourselves,” Athens head coach Ryan Adams said. “We’re going into a place that’s got a great football history.”

Steubenville’s football tradition is long-standing and highly accomplished. The Big Red has tallied 19 undefeated and untied seasons.

The storied powerhouse will face a program which has exploded onto the scene over the past several seasons. Coming into Friday’s match-up, Athens has won 25 consecutive regular season games, but don’t tell that to the Bulldogs.

“(The streak) has not had any mention,” Adams said. “We’re extremely focused at the task at hand,”

Offensively, Adams says that the Bulldogs front line will have a formidable challenge trying to protect Joe Burrow long enough for him to see the field. If Burrow’s jersey stays clean and he has time to operate, Adams said that Athens can control the pace of the game.