COAL GROVE — The Coal Grove Hornets know what they have to do.

The Hornets host the Shenandoah Zeps at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Division VI Region 23 playoff quarterfinals and their focus is on two key players.

The Zeps (8-2) are led by 6-foot-2, 190-pound junior quarterback Boone Jones and 6-foot, 205-pound senior tailback Nick Miller.

Jones is 78-of-140 on the season for 1,054 yards and 16 touchdowns with six interceptions.

He is second on the team with 463 yards rushing on 82 carries with five touchdowns.
Miller — who missed two games with an injury — still rushed 146 times for 1,089 yards and 15 touchdowns. He caught 10 passes for 116 yards and three scores.

“Their losses came when (Miller) was less than 100 percent or out. But he’s getting back to full strength,” said Hornets’ coach Evan Ferguson.

“Their quarterback is a good kid. He’s a strong kid. You hear a lot about their tailback and he’s good, but their quarterback has the ability to break one. He’s their home run threat.”

Senior Hunter Graham — who played at Barnesville last season — leads the team with 24 receptions for 412 yards and six touchdowns. He also missed a couple of games with an injury.

Graham is also a key player on defense with six interceptions and 30 tackles.

Fullback Chase Chicwak is the fullback but doubles as a linebacker and leads the team with 144 stops and has 3.5 sacks. He has forced seven fumbles, recovered three and has 11 tackles for a loss.

Junior Dalton Rice (6-0, 225) starts at right tackle on offense and on defense he has seven sacks and 50 total tackles.

Coal Grove is led by junior quarterback Nate Harmon (6-2, 185) who is 45-of-77 passing for 726 yards and nine interceptions while rushing 94 times for 711 yards. He has 1,437 total yards.

Junior running back Kyle Sites (5-8, 160) has 135 carries for 824 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Senior linebacker Kimo Baldwin (6-1, 230) is the teams’ leading tackler on defense.

The Hornets top receivers are senior wide receiver Sam Angelo (6-4, 205) with 17 receptions for 295 yards and two scores and senior tight end Jeb Jones (6-4, 210) with 17 catches for 279 yards and four touchdowns.

Coal Grove (9-1) is making its 11th playoff appearance but is hosting its first playoff game. The Hornets are 5-10 all-time in the postseason.

Shenandoah has just three previous playoff appearances with a 4-3 record.

Ferguson played quarterback for the Hornets in the playoffs his senior season. Zeps’ head coach Jesse Wells also played in the playoffs as a senior for Shenandoah.

Friday’s winner advances to play the winner of Steubenville Catholic (7-3) and Chillicothe Southeastern (10-0) in the regional semifinals.

The other Region 23 games on Friday have Shadyside (7-3) at Nelsonville-York (10-0) and Galion Northmor (8-2) at Fort Frye (9-1).