EAST LIVERPOOL — The Indian Creek football team started the season with a win against Cambridge, however, the Redskins face a stiffer test this week in the form of East Liverpool.

The Redskins and Potters are set to continue their rivalry at 7 p.m. Friday night up at Patterson Field.

The Redskins defeated the Bobcats, 35-6, last week on the road to get the season started off on a positive note.

“I thought we had a couple moments of unsettledness,” Indian Creek (1-0) head coach Andrew Connor said. “I thought offensively we did our job. Defensively, we were spectacular. We had no turnovers. We protected the ball. We stayed ahead of the chains. Defensively, we did not give up any big plays. Those are the things you worry about in an opener, and we did good job with them. That is the formula we want to continue moving forward.”

On the other side, East Liverpool came away with a 23-12 victory against Carrollton. The Potters overcame a 6-0 deficit after one quarter to pull out the road victory. East Liverpool scored 17 straight points to take the lead before capping the win off on a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Tamar Tisdale.

“Carrollton is a good football team,” Connor said. “East Liverpool was able to run the ball. They create some big plays on offense, on special teams and defensively they were able to create a turnover. They were able to create big plays in all three phases of the game.”

The Potters have a new quarterback this season as Ben Myers has taken over under center.

“They do a lot of the same things,” Connor said. “They put pressure on you. They run RPOs. Their quarterback did a good job of spreading the ball out and running the ball when he needed to. Their offensive line got off the ball. They run the ball inside. They do not really do anything different. Some of the names may have changed, but they still have the same philosophy.”

East Liverpool made some key stops defensively in its win against Carrollton.

“Defensively, they swarm to the ball,” Connor said. “They tackle well, and they swarm to the ball. They did a great job with their red zone defense. Carrollton got down there a couple of times early in the game, and they stiffened up and held them to field goals. Looking back on it, that was the difference in the game. They are aggressive, they tackle well and they stop big plays. They don’t give up many big plays.”

The play of the team’s special teams units may make the difference in the game this week. The Potters returned a kickoff for a touchdown against the Warriors, while the Bobcats lone score on a 90-yard kickoff return by Tate Sikora.

“We have to tackle better,” Connor said. “We have to tackle well. We went over that today, and we are going to continue to go over it the rest of the week. We have to stay in our lanes. They had the big one return, but other than that, I thought we did a good job. They had a big return, and we cannot let that happen this week.”

For Indian Creek, having a balanced offensive attack will be important if the Redskins want to come away with a win against their Buckeye 8 North Division rivals.

“The big thing offensively is we have to be balanced,” Connor said. “Ian (Starkey) did a very good job of running our offense. He did a very good job of passing the ball. He was 11-of-13. That is fantastic. We mixed up the running backs we do have. We stayed in front of the chains.

“Defensively, we have to tackle. We can’t give up any big plays. We have to force them to go 3-and-out, and we have to defend the pass well.”

The Redskins defeated the Potters, 20-14, last season at home.