OAKLAND — A Hall of Fame Night, two Homecoming celebrations and the ongoing chase for state playoff berths highlight the weekend as Week 8 of the high school football season kicks off tonight around the area.

The Southern Rams (2-4) host the Fort Hill Sentinels (4-2) on Hall of Fame Night at Rams Stadium as former Southern football players Toby Colaw (Class of 1956) and Justin Steyer (Class of 1996) will be inducted into the Ram Football Hall of Fame.

Colaw, a three-sport star, quarterbacked the first Southern football team and held passing and punting records at the school for years. Steyer, an offensive lineman, anchored a line that earned back-to-back state playoff trips, his play instrumental in the Rams’ march to the 1995 state championship game, which they lost by two points to Cambridge-South Dorchester.

The Hall of Fame ceremony will take place prior to tonight’s game.

Meanwhile, undefeated Frankfort (6-0) will play host to Petersburg (4-2) in the Falcons’ Homecoming game, while Keyser (5-1) hosts Jefferson (1-5) and Northern (2-4) hosts Mountain Ridge (0-6).

Allegany (5-1), fresh off a shutout rout of MATHS, looks for some revenge at Calvert (4-2), Hampshire (4-2) is at Musselman (5-2) and East Hardy (5-1) is at Moorefield (3-3) in the only 7:30 game of the evening. All others begin at 7 o’clock.

On Saturday, the Bishop Walsh Spartans (5-1) wrap up their school’s Homecoming weekend with a 2 p.m. game with Frederick County Christian (0-5) at Brother Stephen F. Paul Spartan Stadium.

• Fort Hill is coming off its biggest win of the season, 29-21, over Central of Martinsburg, Pa. as Dekari Darr rushed for 129 yards and a touchdown, and quarterback Hunter Squires hit Travis Bush with a pair of touchdown passes.

Ty Mance returned the second-half kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown as the Sentinels scored 29 unanswered points to take a 29-6 lead in the third quarter. Roger Dawson, Micah May and Ryan Shives, who intercepted a pass on the final play of the game, made the defensive plays to put an end to the Central rally.

Fort Hill is rated No. 3 in the Maryland 1A West Region.

Southern beat Petersburg last week, 41-6, to break the Vikings’ four-game winning streak as Garrett Campbell rushed for 196 yards on 17 carries. Campbell scored on runs of 76 and 53 yards.

The Southern defense held the Vikings to 10 yards, minus-35 rushing.

Fort Hill won last year’s game, 62-6, and leads the all-time series, 13-2.

• Frankfort is rated No. 3 in West Virginia Class AA behind Wayne and Bridgeport and will take on Petersburg in its Homecoming Game.

The Falcons won their seventh game in a row, beating Fairmont Senior, 40-20, last week, taking advantage of five turnovers, a strong kicking game and another good passing night. Damian Morgan scored a pair of touchdowns and quarterback Gage Shaffer stayed hot with two more TD passes to Thane Cutter. Josh McNeil kicked field goals of 37 and 34 yards.

 Petersburg saw its four-game winning streak come to an at Southern, as the Vikings were limited to 10 yards of offense. The lone Vikings score came after Josh Inskeep blocked a Southern punt to give Petersburg the ball inside the Southern 10 as quarterback Cory Pool scored on a one-yard run to make the score 21-6, Southern.

Frankfort beat Petersburg last year, 14-7, and leads the all-time series, 27-2.

• Keyser, ranked No. 6 in West Virginia Class AA, jumped all over Berkeley Springs last week, 47-0, once again getting big games from Danny Fife, Eric Wilt, Cody Eversole and Blake Ravenscroft.

Ravenscroft and Fife both scored a pair of touchdowns, Wilt returned a punt for a TD and Eversole hit Ryan Streets for another one. Austin Ravenscroft also scored for the Golden Tornado.

Jefferson’s only win this season is over Mountain Ridge. The Cougars lead the all-time series with Keyser, 8-7, including last season’s 28-6 win.

• Northern won its second in a row, 41-0, over Hancock as Jeremy Bender rushed for 134 yards and two touchdowns. Northern piled up 346 yards on the ground, while holding the Panthers to 70 yards rushing. Hancock was 0-for-11 passing with two interceptions.

Quarterback Aaron Broadwater rushed for 93 yards on four carries, scoring TDs from 58 and 19 yards out. Justin Derato kicked five extra points.

Mountain Ridge fell last week to Chestnut Ridge, 34-6, with Logan Jefferies scoring the lone Miners touchdown just prior to the half.

Mountain Ridge won last year’s game, 34-26.

• Allegany made short work of MATHS last week, 55-0, with Trenton Eirich scoring on punt returns the first two times a Camper touched the ball. Madison Wolford rushed for 103 yards and scored two touchdowns and Christian Thomas continued on with 81 yards and two touchdowns.

Allegany, which is rated No. 2 in the Maryland 1A West Region, lost to Calvert last season, 28-20, falling victim to the Cavaliers’ overall team speed. Quarterback Jermaine Hunter returns after burning Alco last year for 167 yards and TD runs of 61 and 90 yards on 11 carries, as the Cavs rushed for 311 yards.

This year Calvert has wins over Chopticon, Great Mills, LaPlata and Northern Calvert. The Cavaliers have lost to Huntington and Westlake.

• Halfback Denard Hartwell returned to the line-up and rushed for 118 yards and two touchdowns in Hampshire’s 40-7 win over Buckhannon-Upshur last week, moving the Trojans to No. 16 in the West Virginia Class AAA ratings.

Jacob Bean and Calab Landis also scored and Landis hooked up with Trevor Largent for a 32-yard TD pass. Charlie McDonald scored the final Hampshire touchdown.

Musselman, ranked No. 9 in Class AAA, has wins over Sherando, James Wood, Washington, Jefferson and Hedgesville, and has fallen to Skyline, Va., and Parkersburg South.

Mike Burke is sports editor of the Cumberland Times-News. Write to him at mburke@times-news.com.