MEADVILLE — It wasn't talked about all that much during the course of the season.

But it was there, nonetheless, always in the back of the mind, always on the tip of the tongue.

Oct. 20. The Meadville game.

The Grove City High football team lost twice to the Bulldogs last season, once in the regular-season finale and again in the District 10 5A title game. It was the only two losses the Eagles suffered last season.

So now the inevitable rematch that is finally here at 7 p.m. Friday can be spoken about aloud.

“Our main focus is we don't want them to think about what happened last year,” said Grove City coach Sam Mowrey. We're a different team. They're a different team.”

The two teams are indeed different.

Sort of.

Grove City's Kameron Patterson and his 2,671 passing yards and 32 touchdowns from a year ago graduated. Meadville's Journey Brown and his 2,791 rushing yards and 45 touchdowns (yes, 45 TDs) also graduated.

Still, what the two teams do and the personnel they do it with is largely unchanged.

“We don't want to beat them because of what happened last year,” Mowrey said. “An undefeated regular season is on the line. A region championship is on the line. A first-round playoff bye may be on the line.”

Grove City (8-0, 5-0) is led by Brady Callahan, who has thrown for 1,125 yards and 13 touchdowns. His favorite target has been the multifaceted Logan Lutz, who has 32 receptions for 494 yards and six touchdowns and 488 yards rushing and three scores.

Trey Adams leads the Eagles in rushing with 582 yards and 17 touchdowns.

Even with the loss of Brown, Meadville (6-2, 4-1) and its wing-T attack is still dangerous.

Isaiah Manning, who gained 1,900 rushing yards last season as Brown's sidekick, is now the main protagonist in the offense and is playing like it with 1,722 yards on the ground and 24 touchdowns.

The Bulldogs have only attempted 27 passes all season, completing 11 of them.

Julius Ream and De'Shawn Wofford each have more than 500 yards rushing as well for Meadville.

“That's what's tricky about the wing-T,” Mowrey said. “All three of their backs and good backs and when you have that in the wing-T, it's tough to stop.”

It's strength against strength; Meadville has rushed for 3,343 yards in eight games while Grove City has limited opponents to a mere 421 yards rushing (52.6 per game).

Ambridge(0-8, 0-7) at Knoch (2-5, 2-4)

7 p.m. Friday

The Knights are looking to keep their slim playoff hopes alive while the Bridgers are seeking their first win since joining the Northwest Nine Conference last season.

Knoch defeated Ambridge 48-0 in 2016. The Bridgers are 0-17 in the past two years, have been shut out eight times and have scored just 48 points this season. They only scored 26 points last season.

RB Ivan Stapchuk (10) and QB Jake Herrit (8) have combined to score 18 touchdowns this season for the Knights. WR A.J. Karenbauer has two TDs and no one else on the team has more than one.

Ambridge QB Robbie Thompson threw for 121 yards against Mars last week, but was intercepted twice.

CWNC (6-2, 5-0)

at South Side (2-6, 1-5)

7 p.m., Friday

Fresh off a come-from-behind 29-28 win over Riverside that put them in the driver's seat toward a conference title, the Trojans are two wins shy of going a perfect 7-0 in Midwestern Conference play.

The Trojans' potent stable of receivers includes junior Tyree Brown, who caught five passes for 92 yards last week with two touchdowns.

Quarterback Zack Rocco continued his solid sophomore season with 226 passing yards and three scores and Joe Meinert rushed for 105 yards.

After beginning the season with a pair of 28-21 victories over Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and New Brighton, South Side has lost six straight, though the Rams have been competitive in the three most recent defeats. They dropped a 38-27 conference meeting to Neshannock last week.

Junior running back Jake Botkin is nearing 1,000 yards rushing for the season. As a team, the Rams are nearing 2,000 yards on the ground.

The Rams beat the Trojans last year, 28-14.

Wilmington (8-0, 7-0)

at Slippery Rock (3-5, 3-4)

7 p.m., Friday

Turnovers have written part of the story for these two teams this season.

Slippery Rock has turned the ball over 20 times while Wilmington has only committed six turnovers.

Because of that, the Rockets' defense has been on the field a lot this season, but still has held up well giving up just 244 yards per game.

That might be a difficult task this week against the Greyhounds, who have a dynamic quarterback in junior Robert Pontius, who has thrown for 578 yards and rushed for another 234.

Wilmington is averaging 44 points per game.

Union/A-C Valley (1-7)

at Clarion (7-0)

7 p.m., Friday

The Falcon Knights fell, 44-6, to Brookville last week.

Union/ACV senior QB Lucas Bowser is 12 passing yards shy of 1,000 for the season. He has 11 TDs and 8 INTs and has thrown at least one TD pass in all eight games.

DBs Nolan Cumberland and Dalton Callander lead the team with three passes intercepted.

Clarion, champion of the KSAC's Large School Division, scored a 44-17 defeat of Karns City last week.

Colton Rapp (615 yds. and 8 TDs) and Logan Minich (529-7) lead the Bobcats' ground-oriented attack, which is averaging 350 yards per game. Rapp also has three of the team's five TD receptions.

Clarion beat Union/A-C Valley last year, 54-0.

Summit Acad. (2-5, 2-5)

at Northgate (2-5, 2-4)

12 p.m., Saturday

Summit dropped its final home game of the season last Saturday, 20-16 to Sto-Rox. The Knights let a 16-6 halftime lead slip away.

Summit allowed 190 yards passing in the defeat and 162 yards on the ground to the Vikings, who entered the game with one victory on the season. Northgate's 47-12 road loss to Western Beaver last week clinched a WPIAL Class A playoff berth for three Big Seven Conference teams — Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Rochester and Western Beaver.

Northgate's ground game features senior Surron Adams (5-6, 180), who has rushed for over 500 yards and four TDs.

The Flames went 10-2 and reached the district semifinals last season, but lost nine key starters to graduation.

Northgate defeated Summit last year, 28-14.