Winless Warren will host winless Girard at 7 tonight at War Memorial Field, and the Dragons will have to show what they’re made of after coming off two physical and lopsided losses at Cathedral Prep and Titusville.

“We are getting some guys back this week that have been out since Franklin,” said Warren coach Cody Bupp, “and that will help out and give us some depth again. The last two weeks have been physical at both levels — varsity and JV. It’s the midway point, (so) bruises, pains hurt more than they did, but that is what being a football player is all about. Playing through pain, being mentally tough, I can’t teach them that; they have to dig down inside them to find out what’s in there.”

At 0-5 and being outscored 251-31, Warren hosts Girard, which is also 0-5 and has been outscored 175-75. Both have suffered lopsided losses to Corry and Titusville.

Something has to give.

“Offensively, they are similar to what we were in the past — spread sets, motion, and they mix in some power-I,” said Bupp. “They have some athletes at wide receiver that you have to keep close. We have to do a much better job of wrapping up in space, and gang-tackling.

They platoon quarterbacks; Stevens is a senior and we have faced him the last two years and is getting healthier after missing games to start the year, and St. Julien is a sophomore, but is a dual-threat quarterback. Mason Kalicky is a true football player; he has been circled on the scouting reports since he was a freshman, and has transitioned from the line to running back. Their offensive line is comparable to what we saw from Franklin in regard to size and strength.

“Defensively, they will mix fronts anywhere from a 4-3 to 5-2 to 4-2-5 look,” said Bupp. “Kalicky is the leader of their defense and a stud in the middle. We have to execute our blocks up front, and we worked heavily on that this week. We are getting back to almost full health on the line and you can see some of those holes open up in practice. We need to be able to throw on rhythm and execute our routes on the outside. Our group realizes that we don’t have burners, but we can be technical and use our alignments and fundamentals to get open.”

Girard topped Warren 49-13 last season, and 50-28 in 2022.