TORONTO — While Friday night’s match up at Clarke Hinkle Field might be between two teams with opposite records, both Toronto’s Josh Franke and Oak Glen’s Doug Taylor are preparing for a challenging game when the Red Knights meet the Golden Bears for the first time since 2019.

Toronto has enjoyed a lot of early success it looks to continue and build upon in what will be the midpoint of the season, as the Knights enter 4-0, ranked No. 5 in Division VII in the most recent Ohio Associated Press poll and No. 2 in the Region 25 playoff ratings.

However, don’t expect them to be focused on anything but getting better.

“It’s a little bit humbling, but it’s one of those things we’ve talked to the kids about the past two weeks. You can’t buy into what the rankings are, you can’t buy into what people are saying, you have to stay focused on the task at hand,” Franke said. “(Monday) we talked about how success is never owned, it’s rented, and you have to pay the price of rent every week if you want to continue to be successful.

“Our kids are intelligent and mature enough that I think they really buy into it and pick up on it and I don’t think anyone on the team is patting themselves on the back yet, they all know we still have six games left to play and they want to make a playoff run (after that), so I don’t think anyone has bought into our hype so to speak.”

And while a young team – Toronto has just two seniors – and some outside the program might be surprised by the success, Franke and his staff who have seen the hard work over the summer are not.

“We’re not surprised at all. As young as we are, a lot of these kids were playing football for us last year and we saw towards the end of the season them start to turn it on and light bulb kind of come on, and with the offseason we had – we were averaging about 30 kids in the weight room three days a week at 6 a.m. – so this is something these kids have worked all off season for,” he said. “I think it’s like anything in life, when you prepare to have success is when you find yourself close to obtaining it. I don’t any of the players or the coaches are surprised by where we’re at, I think there is a lot of stuff we all believe we can improve on and be better at.

“These guys set a lot of goals for themselves in the off season and they are on track to obtain those goals. It’s an exciting time, but we’re also managing realistic expectations of where we’re at and where we need to get to.”

On the flip side, the Golden Bears come in 0-3 with losses to Weir High at home in the opener and at Robert C. Byrd and North Marion the past two weeks.

“It is another tough opponent, they all have been, but we don’t make any excuses,” Taylor, in his first season at Oak Glen, said. “That schedule is what it is. It has caught us at a bad time, we have some people knicked up a little bit, but we don’t make any excuses. To win football games, you have to be able to block and have to be able to tackle, and right now we’re not doing either of those things well enough to get a win. So, we have to improve on that this week.

“A lot of times in games, we are just that close to turning a 4-yard gain into a 20, 30, 40-yarder or maybe taking to the house. We’re so close at times, and we’ve missed open receivers. Good football teams don’t miss those chances.

“If we want to be better, if we want to be the caliber of football team we think we can be, we have to do better, and I take that responsibility on myself as the head football coach.”

There have been pivotal moments in all three of the Golden Bears games where the momentum got away and never came back, including last week.

“Last week we started off the game pretty good defensively, got the ball back and got a couple first downs and then (Kolton Goodlin) got hurt,” Taylor said. “They scored, and the next possession we had a pass to the tight end in the flat and he tipped the ball right into the corner’s hands for an interception and he races for a touchdown. Once you get stuff like that happening, things just seem to snowball. We never got any rhythm.”

Despite the early struggles, Franke knows a coaches like Taylor and his staff will get things turned around and will provide a challenge.

“I know coach Taylor will have them ready regardless of their record,” Franke said. “I have a lot of respect for him. This being the first year running the program, it takes a little bit to get you feet underneath you and the team to get acclimated, but there is no doubt he will have them headed in the right direction, and with Ted Arneault on his staff, those are two good football minds. You have be ready for what they can bring to table.

“Anytime you play a Wing-T offense, it is a non-traditional offense that you don’t see every week, so you have to make sure your kids are lined up properly and make sure they are playing disciplined assignment football. One slip up and they are going to strike.

“Defensively, they run a 3-4, so we need to make sure that we’re able to adjust our blocking assignments, it’s a little different. Outside of that, we know we’re in for another physical test. Obviously its another school that is bigger than us and we have to make sure we’re up to the task.”

Taylor has been impressed with what he’s seen from the Red Knights.

“What they lack in numbers, they make up for in talent,” Taylor said of Toronto. “That is a very talented football team, coach Franke gives you a lot of different looks and him and his staff do a great job of coaching that team. They have a lot of weapons, they are 4-0 for a reason.

“They’re deadly in space and they’re aggressive on defense, too. They have earned being 4-0 and they are definitely going to be a challenge for us this week.”

There is also a bit of a revenge factor for Toronto, though just one of their players were suited up when the teams last met three seasons ago in New Manchester.

“(Monday) in practice we talked about the last meeting, they beat us 44-6, that is something that stuck with me,” Franke said. “It was 2019 and we ended up going 8-2 and they were one of those losses. Max Silverthorn was the only kid (from this year’s team) on that team and was a part of that, I’m sure this being his senior year its one he wants to redeem himself for.”

The opening kick Friday night in the Gem City is set for 7 p.m.

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