MAN — The 2009 high school football season reaches the mid-point on Friday night for the Man Hillbillies.

Man couldn’t be in any better shape as the Billies are undefeated at 4-0 and ranked No. 1 in the state in Class A.

Man’s goal at the beginning of the season was to finish in the top eight and earn a first-round home playoff game.

The Billies are well on their way to meeting and even exceeding that goal.

But Man knows the last six games of the season will be a challenge.

It all begins on Friday as Man plays at No. 13 Fayetteville (4-1). The Pirates won their fourth game of the season with last Friday night’s 20-12 victory at home over county rival Valley Fayette.

Game time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Fayetteville High School’s Fletcher Arritt Memorial Stadium.

Man coach Harvey Arms said his team is ready to take on the Pirates, a team which has also beaten Oak Hill, Midland Trail and Meadow Bridge this season and has lost to Richwood.

Fayetteville rolled up 605 yards in the 48-34 loss to Richwood but turned the ball over six times.

Fayetteville, coached by Frank Spangler, is led by running back Drew Weis, who sparked the Pirates to the win last week over the Greyhounds. He carried the ball 21 times for 122 yards and scored two touchdowns on runs of 4 and 19. Quarterback Michael Angelo Hernandez also raced 50 yards for the other touchdown. He was 1-of-2 passing for 16 yards.

Arms said the Pirates have a good team.

“They are a good football team. They’ve got a lot of experience,” he said. “They have a lot of guys there that are three-year starters. All three years they have had good teams. They went into the second round of the playoffs last year and they have a lot of those kids back. They have a varied offense and they’ve got a lot of good, skilled players.”

Arms said his players are taking in stride being the No. 1-ranked team in the state.

“I think so. We don’t talk about being number one,” he said. “We talk about getting better every week and trying to stay at the top of the list. We know that each week is going to be a challenge. We know that all of the teams that we have left to play are good football programs. We expect all of the games will be tough.”

The Billies are coming off a 42-12 win over St. Marys two weeks ago. Man observed a bye week last week.

Arms said the off week came at a good time.

“We had a good week of practice,” he said. “We were able to heal up a little bit and take a few days off. But we still had some good practice time. We thought it went well for us. If you’re going to have an open week right in the middle of the season is a pretty good week for it.”

Man had no trouble two weeks ago with St. Marys, a team which had beaten the Billies two straight years.

Man led 14-0 at the half after a 59-yard TD pass from Ryan Crum to Derrick Earnest and a 13-yard touchdown run by Crum.

Brandon Plymale’s 41-yard interception return for a touchdown with 8:18 left in the third quarter and Earnest’s PAT made it 21-0.

The Billies then added three fourth quarter touchdowns to put the game away. Crum passed 48 yards to Jeremy Hatfield, Plymale ran in from 20 yards out and Hatfield scored his second TD of the night on a 27-yard interception return.

Crum was 2-of-8 passing for 107 yards. St. Marys had 59 yards in the air on just 4-of-17 passing.

Man was penalized seven times for 45 yards. The Blue Devils had just one flag for five yards.

St. Marys won the time of possession battle, 22:15 to 15:45.

Man, however, won the game on special teams with the two scores.

Plymale had 75 yards rushing on 13 carries to lead the Billies.

Manny Gibson led Man on defense with eight solo tackles and six assists. Zack Underwood had seven tackles and five assists. Derek Lomax had six solos and five assists, while Earnest had six solos and four assists and Andrew Hale had six solos and one assist.

Ryan Crawford also had a blocked punt.

Man had previously beaten Logan (34-7), Mount View (56-0) and Westside (20-14).

The Billies have simply been dominating this year, outscoring their opponents 152-33.

For the season, Man has 779 yards rushing on 146 carries, an average of 5.3 yards per attempt. Man’s opponents have just 555 yards on the ground on 170 carries or 3.3 yards per try. The Billies have 14 rushing touchdowns to only four for their foes.

Man is 9-of-28 for 189 yards passing with just one interception through four games. Man’s opponents are 14-of-53 for 133 yards and six interceptions.

Man has rolled up 1,075 yards of total offense to just 688 for its opponents. The Billies are averaging 6.2 yards per play to only 3.1 for their foes.

The Billies have fumbled 12 times this season but have only lost one. Man’s four opponents have eight fumbles and have lost four.

The Billies are also beating their opponents on special teams.

Man is averaging 35 yards per kick return to just 19.6 yards for its foes. The Billies are also ahead in punt returns, 21.2 yards to 10.1 yards per boot.

Man punter Ryan Crawford is averaging 34.9 yards per boot so far this season to just 25 yards per kick for his opponents.

Billies’ kicker Earnest is 17-of-19 on his extra point kicks and is 2-of-5 on field goal tries with a long of 44 yards at Westside. Josh Booth is 1-of-1 on PATs. Earnest has also boomed the ball on kickoffs as he has eight touchbacks and is averaging 54.7 yards per kick, the equivalent of getting the ball down to the 5-yard line. Booth has kicked off four times for a 46.5 average.

Also on special teams, Hatfield has a 63-yard punt return for a touchdown and Plymale has a 98-yard kickoff return for a TD.

Man’s defense has also been getting the job done as it has recorded 10 sacks. Crum has yet to be sacked in four games.

The Billies’ big quarter this season has been the second quarter as Man is outscoring its foes 63-7. Man holds a 38-14 edge in the first period, a 14-6 advantage in the third and a 37-6 margin in the fourth quarter.

Individually, Plymale leads Man’s rushers with 331 yards on 49 carries (6.8 yards per carry) and seven touchdowns. He has a long of 53 yards and is Man’s leading scorer.

Crum has 32 rushes for 165 yards and four TDs with a long of 37.

Michael Lomax has 28 carries for 121 yards and one touchdown.

Derek Lomax has 19 attempts for 101 yards and two scores. He has a long of 36 yards.

Crum is 9-of-25 passing for 296 yards with three touchdowns and one pick.

Hatfield has three catches for 124 yards and two TDs. Earnest has three grabs for 110 yards and one TD. Evan Riggins has snared two passes this season for 62 yards. Michael Lomax also has a catch.

On defense, Underwood is Man’s leader with 20 solo tackles, 13 assists and one sack for a minus-17 yards.

Gibson has 16 solos and seven assists. Earnest has 16 solos, seven assists and a team-high three sacks for minus-39 yards.

Cody Owens has 15 solos and eight assists with one sack. Derek Lomax has eight solos and nine assists. Plymale checks in with nine tackles and eight assists. Jimmy Duba has eight solos, eight assists and two sacks. Hale has 11 solos and six assists. Tyler Dunigon has nine solos and five assists. Crawford has six solos, five assists and one sack.

Corey Earnest and Brent Ferrell also have sacks this season.

Hatfield is the team leader with two interceptions. Gibson leads in fumble recoveries with two.