NEVADA, Iowa — Week 2 of "Friday Night Blitz" sees rivals West Marshall and Nevada facing off.
Both squads enter this game 1-0 after convincing Week One wins.
Separated by just 15 miles with a lot of success between the two, the teams have built a rivalry that they look forward to each year.
"When you get a game like this with two great teams ranked in the top 10 — them in 3A, us in 2A — those are things that you got to get excited for," said West Marshall Head Coach Cory Hackett. "For each program to play a quality team kind of allows you to kind of see where you're at before you get into district play."
West Marshall has won five out of the last seven games, but Nevada got the best of the team last year.
"We're conference opponents," said Nevada Head Coach Andrew Kleeman. "So there's a lot of familiarity amongst our kids. And I think, with that, we also know and have a tremendous amount of respect for their football program. They have a great tradition that they've established over the years."
Looking forward to the game, both teams have something to prove, and they're not afraid to make their rivalry clear.
"We just don't like each other . . . It's always been like that. We just follow the tradition, I guess," said Grahm Nason, a senior at West Marshall.
Still, there is a mutual respect between the teams that can't be overlooked.
"I don't know if they hate us or not, but we have respect for them," said Nevada senior Drew Robinson. "They play hard. They have dog mentality; they fly to the ball well."
Local 5 will have highlights to this game and plenty more across central Iowa in the first Friday Night Blitz of the season.