Football Game Preview: Shawnee Braves vs. North Union Wildcats

The Shawnee Braves will venture away from home to challenge the North Union Wildcats at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Shawnee comes in still looking for their first win of the season.

On Friday, Shawnee took a blow against Graham Local, falling 42-7. While losing is never fun, the Braves can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Ohio football rankings (they are ranked 575th, while the Falcons are ranked 193rd).

Meanwhile, North Union earned a 28-20 victory over Northwestern on Friday. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Wildcats.

North Union's win came from a few key players Shawnee will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Nick Vanhoose, who rushed for 156 yards and two touchdowns. North Union is undefeated when Vanhoose posts 100 or more rushing yards, but 2-3 otherwise. Griffin Osborne helped out on the ground, rushing for 82 yards and a rushing touchdown.

North Union was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 331 rushing yards. They are a perfect 4-0 when they've run for more than 200 yards.

North Union didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. In fact, those interceptions all came courtesy of defensive juggernaut Osborne.

Shawnee's loss dropped their record down to 0-8. As for North Union, their record is now 5-3.

Shawnee came up short against North Union when the teams last played back in September of 2024, falling 6-0. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Vanhoose, who rushed for 186 yards and one TD. Now that the Braves know the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.