DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette Parker Persing of Montgomery hands the ball off to Trace Furman in the first quarter against Hughesville at Hughesville on Friday in Week 1 action.

Montgomery PPG–14, PPA–6; YPG–179, YPA–149

Montgomery notes: Montgomery is coming off their first season opening win since 2021 and is seeking their first win against Warrior Run since that season. It will not be easy in a game featuring two of the area’s top defenses from opening weekend. The Red Raiders were 26 seconds from a shutout at Hughesville and the defense created as many touchdowns as it allowed, setting up a second quarter score with a fumble recovery. Safety Trace Furman made a team-high 12 tackles, while Gage Furman recovered a fumble and caught a 10-yard touchdown from Parker Persing. Lincoln Miller had a big game, collecting two sacks, making eight tackles, forcing a fumble and recovering a fumble. Josh Knoebel put together a strong performance in his Montgomery debut, making seven tackles and adding a sack while leading the offense with 45 yards rushing. Evan Hugar also had a sack and four others combined for two sacks. Montgomery led the area in yards allowed last season and has won its last five regular season games. The Raiders also are 6-0 in the regular season on the road over the last two years.

Montgomery player to watch–Logan Joy: The three-year starting linebacker started his junior year strong at Hughesville, making 10 tackles. He also broke up a pass and helped negate the loss of last year’s leading tackler Cameron Woltz to injury. Joy is one of several starters back for a stingy unit.

Warrior Run PPG–21, PPA–7; YPG–236, YPA–95

Warrior Run notes: Warrior Run makes its home debut after defeating Muncy in its opener. Like Montgomery, Warrior Run dominated defensively, allowing just 95 yards and forcing a fumble which led to a touchdown. A strong front seven shut down the run, limiting Muncy to one yard per game and Warrior Run had six sacks. Linebacker Tyler Ulrich was all over the field, producing an area-best three sacks, including two late ones to seal victory. Ulrich had four tackles for loss and sophomore linebackers Chase Winsberger and Max Fogelman combined for 18 tackles in their first starts. Defensive end David Stiner was outstanding coming off the edge and forced a fumble which led to the touchdown which put Warrior Run ahead, 21-0. Jackson Albright and Garrett Williams form a strong run-stuffing duo in the middle and Cohen Zechman intercepted a pass. Zechman also returned the game’s opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown. Denyn Beachel ran for 92 hard-earned yards and quarterback James Keifer is coming off a strong season in which he nearly reached 2,000 yards.

Warrior Run player to watch–Tyler Shiposh: A two-way lineman, Shiposh is one of several first-time contributors who made big impacts last week. Shiposh came up big in the first half’s final seconds, producing a sack for a 10-yard loss which ended a Muncy scoring threat and kept it, 21-0.

Outlook: This one feels like it will resemble the games each team played last week. It will be physical and points will not come easy. Both teams are still finding themselves offensively, so we’ll say the first one to 14 points wins this one.