NEW MANCHESTER — The Brooke football team is looking for its second two-game winning streak this season, while Oak Glen is looking to win back-to-back games for the first time this season.

Both teams enters this week coming off important victories, and they will look to win another as the Bruins take on the Golden Bears at 7 p.m. Friday night on Homecoming up at the Bears Den.

Brooke snapped a three-game losing streak as it rallied for a 14-7 victory last week at Marietta. The Bruins played another strong game defensively in the win against the Tigers.

“Their only points came on a fumble in the end zone, so our defense pitched a shut out,” Brooke (3-2) head coach Mac McLean said. “Late in the game, we fumbled the ball at our 15, and the defense stood up and forced them to go four-and-out to give us the win.”

The visitors from Brooke County tallied all 14 of their points in the third quarter.

“We sputtered offensively in the first half,” McLean said. “We had a couple of turnovers. We had a heart-to-heart talk with them at halftime. Then in the second half, we went out and scored 14 unanswered points. That was enough to win the game, but that won’t be enough going forward.”

Brooke got off to a slow start offensively against Marietta, however, that was not the case for Oak Glen against Berkeley Springs. The Golden Bears jumped out to a 35-0 lead at halftime en route to a 42-6 victory at home.

“I thought we played a real-good first half offensively,” first-year Oak Glen (2-4) head coach Doug Taylor said. “We were able to pass the ball. We did not play as well in the second half. When you are up 35-0 at halftime, you have a tendency to back off and you lose momentum. We fought back in the third and scored again and that iced the game.

“That win was real important. It was important for the community. It was important for the fans. These kids deserve good things.”

Oak Glen played a strong game defensively last week.

“Our defense played lights out,” Taylor said. “They have one drive. They had one long drive in the third. Other than that, our defense was spotless. We tackled well. We did not give up the big play. We played really well on defense.”

The Bruins have to make some changes it their offense as Brooke has played five kids at quarterback this season.

“We are going to have to go back to basics,” McLean said. “We have to finish our drives. We can’t have drive-killing penalties or turnovers. We are going to need our defense to play well again.

“I give a lot of credit to our coaching staff, especially our defensive staff. On the offensive side, we have had five different kids playing quarterback. We have had five kids play the position. We have had five signal callers.

“Anybody who knows anything about football knows quarterback is the most important position, and we have had five kids play quarterback.

“We are 3-2. That’s not great, but I want to give credit to our offensive coaches — Ryan Scherich and Mike Bachinski. They have done an outstanding job.”

Taylor said he is impressed with what Brooke has done offensively with the Bruins having to use multiple quarterbacks.

“I don’t know what to say about Brooke,” he said. “Anytime you lose your starting quarterback in Week 2 and play at the level they are playing at now, it is impressive. It says a lot about the athletes they have and the coaching staff they have. We are going to be playing a very good Brooke football team.”

The boys from Brooke County are going to give the Golden Bears different looks when they have the football on offense.

“They do what their quarterback does well,” Taylor said. “They run a lot of misdirection. They hide the ball. You don’t know if the first guy has it, or if they are going to give it to the second guy. It is kind of like a spin series.

“When they do pass, they run simple routes. They flood the zone. They give their quarterback easy reads. They are going to be tough to defend. They do a good job of mixing things up.”

The Golden Bears want to run the football, and they want to throw the ball off that.

“They do want to run the ball,” McLean said. “They are starting to find an identity with what they do. They are going to challenge our defense.”

Having success running the ball will allow the boys from Hancock County to run time off the clock.

“Marietta ran the ball a lot against us in the first half,” McLean said. “When teams run the ball a lot, the games go fast. When teams run ball-control offenses, you don’t get as many opportunities with the ball. We are going to have to stop their offense and get them off the field in four downs.”

The Green-and-Gold are expecting to get different looks from the Golden Bears defense this week.

“The two games I have seen on film, they played against teams that like to spread you out with five receivers,” McLean said. “They had three defensive linemen. They would play a 3-4, and they would bring a backer. They are going to give us different looks. They are going to give us things we have not faced before.

“I’m not sure what to expect. It is different when you have two backs in the backfield. We are going to have to be ready for everything.”

The two teams are about the same size up front.

“I would say they are a little bigger than we are,” McLean said. “I think we are both about the same. Neither team has a big advantage.”

Taylor said the Bruins have the slight edge in the size department.

“I think they are a little bigger than us,” he said. “They have good size. They are physical. They get off the ball on both sides of the ball.

“Who wins the game comes down to who controls the line of scrimmage. Defensively, if you can control the line of scrimmage you are going to win the game. It is the same thing on offense. The line of scrimmage is a concern for us.

“They have decent size on defense. They get off the ball. They can bring pressure. They tackle well in space. They make you drive down the field. They force you to make mistakes.

“The game is Brooke’s fourth road game of the season. Their defensive coaching staff has done a good job. They are good defensively. Offensively, we are going to have to make sure we are in the right schemes. We are going to have to change our schemes in order to handle their defense.

“We are going to have to throw the football with success. We are going to have to mix it in. We are going to have to play good defense to help out our offense.”

“Yeah, we have been on the road a lot,” McLean said. “Fortunately this week the game is in Hancock County. We won’t have to take charter buses. We can take school buses. It will be nice to get home before 2 in the morning. Last week after we played against Marietta, the kids had a JV game at Steubenville. That was tough. I know when I was pulling out of the parking lot at Brooke it was 2 a.m.”

The Golden Bears have been battling injuries all season long.

“We are close to being where we were,” Taylor said. “Molish won’t be back. Buck Franklin is out. We have guys who are knicked up. Everybody is struggling with injuries at this point in the season. We are no different. We just have to buckle up our chin straps and go play football.”

There is always more excitement with Homecoming games.

“It is Homecoming,” Taylor said. “Homecoming is special. The kids are going to be focused on this game. We really want to play well. We really want to get this win.”