October 3, 2023
Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association High School Football Notebook: Week 7
COLUMBUS – Three weeks remain in the 2023 Ohio high school football regular-season. The stakes get higher and do the accomplishments.
Once again the Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association has compiled the top performances from around the state for this week’s high school football notebook following Week 7.
* Ontario junior quarterback Bodpegn Miller completed 16-of-25 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns while running for 88 yards on eight carries and two more scores in a 45-14 win over Pleasant to improve to 7-0 for the first time since 2001 when the Warriors went 10-0. Miller had now completed 11-of-147 passes for 1,553 yards and 12 touchdowns to just three interceptions. He is averaging 15.5 yards per completions and 221.9 yards per game while completing 68% of his passes. He had also rushed for 616 yards on 70 carries with nine TDs averaging 88 yards per game on the ground.
* The Mansfield Senior Tygers earned a 14-6 win over Ashland in Week 7 to remain in first place in the Ohio Cardinal Conference. Tyger stat guru John Davis had some gems on Friday night. Mansfield Senior had 19 first downs in the win with 13 on the ground, five through the air and one by penalty for the most since having 23 in a 37-10 win over Madison in Week 10 of last season. Their 328 yards of total offense is the second most this season trailing only the 357 they posted against New Philadelphia and it would have been more had the Tygers not lost 14 yards running the victory formation out of the shotgun. The Tygers ran for 239 yards in the win over Ashland, the most since running for 284 against Wooster last season.
* Crestview sophomore running back Ayden Reymer is one a two-week stretch that is nearly unheard of. After going for 300-plus yards in a win over South Central, he collected 190 on just nine carries with touchdowns of 22, 24, 21 and 77 yards in a 56-7 win over Plymouth.
* Waverly senior running back Jase Hurd rushed for 330 yards and 4 touchdowns on 37 carries in his team's 33-7 homecoming victory over Minford Friday night. With seven games complete, Hurd has rushed for 1,244 yards and 14 touchdowns.
* Eastern Pike senior Jace White had a big game in his Eagles' 49-0 triumph over Symmes Valley Friday night. On offense, he hauled in five receptions for 131 yards and a touchdown. On defense, he had five tackles, two tackles for loss, two fumble recoveries and a 55-yard pick-6 interception.
* The McClain Tigers ended a five-year Frontier Athletic Conference losing streak with an exciting 20-17 victory over Chillicothe Friday night. McClain’s last FAC victory was a homecoming win over Miami Trace during the 2018 season. This is also the Tigers' first win over Chillicothe since the Frontier Athletic Conference was formed in 2013. The game included a 19-yard touchdown throw by Drake Stapleton to Max Eikenberry on fourth-and-10 to score their final TD in the fourth.
* The Hillsboro Indians used a powerful offensive line and a stingy defense with four interceptions to defeat the Washington Blue Lions, 36-6 on homecoming night at Richards Memorial Field. The Indians saw 303 yards rushing from Austin Barrett and a defensive display that had four interceptions with Jeven Hochstuhl collecting two, Logan Elliott with one and Nic Burns taking the ball on a 40-plus-yard journey as his interception was a pick-six.
* Brothers Hayden and Colton Jones led the Waterford Wildcats to a 49-7 Tri-Valley Conference victory at Racine Southern. Hayden completed seven of 12 passes for 199 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for a score. Colton carried 11 times for 129 yards and two scores. He led the defense with eight tackles. Max Roberts had 138 receiving yards on three catches, including an 80-yard touchdown reception.
* Senior Logan Niceswanger did a little bit of everything in McConnelsville Morgan's 35-28 victory at New Lexington. Niceswanger rushed for a school-record 268 yards on 33 totes. He recorded four rushing TDs, which tie him for second-most in the program's history. He also tossed a five-yard scoring strike and had an interception on defense.
* McComb’s Braxton Althauser carried 29 times for 391 yards and scored six touchdowns in the Panthers’ 49-21 win over Arlington. Althauser scored on break-away runs of 66, 45, 26, 56 and 31 yards. The senior back also ran a kickoff back 66 yards for a score.
* Findlay’s Luke Weihrauch had 14 tackles, broke up two passes, intercepted another and blocked a PAT kick, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Trojans from falling 18-14 to Anthony Wayne and having their five-game winning streak snapped.
* Bluffton defeated Convoy Crestview 21-0 in a Northwest Conference matchup to improve to 7-0 on the season. It is the Pirates’ best start since 2004 when they had a 10-0 regular season and reached the second round of the playoffs.
* Wynford won its third straight game, topping Buckeye Central 45-0. Anthony Evans led the way with 93 yards rushing, including a 39-yard touchdown run. Ashton Warren ran for three scores and caught a 26-yard TD pass or another.
* Marion Local’s Tim Goodwin won his 300th game as head coach for the Flyers in a 49-0 Midwest Athletic Conference victory at Fort Recovery. Goodwin, currently in his 25th season at the school, is 300-48 with all his wins coming at Marion Local. Goodwin has 13 state titles.
* Celina’s Braylon Gabes carried the ball 10 times for 120 yards with five touchdowns as Celina won its sixth straight game in a 52-36 Western Buckeye League game against Lima Bath. Nominally a receiver, Gabes has worked out of a Wildcat offense, taking snaps and going on runs. He also has a touchdown pass and three touchdown receptions this season.
* Rosecrans senior Brendan Bernath broke his single-game school record by throwing for 479 yards and six TDs on 26-of-52 passing in a 61-58 loss to Fairfield Christian. His younger brother, sophomore Nick Bernath, had 10 receptions for 213 yards and a pair of scores and sophomore Brody Zemba had 185 total yards and three scores for the Bishops, while Danny Blair ran 36 times for 464 yards and six TDs for the Knights.
* West Muskingum junior Jake Anton threw for 232 yards and four TDs and senior running back Rashid Sesay collected 140 total yards and scored four TDs, moving his regular season total to 23, after a 48-0 win over Crooksville.
* Morgan senior Logan Niceswanger totaled 268 yards and four TDs on 33 carries in a 35-28 victory over New Lex.
* John Glenn junior Will Nicolozakes, an All-Ohio soccer player, kicked the game-winning 41-yard field goal, which bounced off the crossbar as time expired, in a 10-7 win over Maysville.
* Tri-Valley’s Jayden Wallace had scoring runs of 58, 34, 20 and 18 yards in the first half of a 59-0 win over River View.
* The Miamisburg defense held Fairmont - the Greater Western Ohio Conference’s top rushing team - to 105 yards on 33 carries in a 28-10 win. Miamisburg (5-2) got two rushing touchdowns from quarterback Preston Barr and two from Hunter Derr in the win. Barr rushed for 61 yards on 23 carries and threw for 202 yards on a 19 of 22 night passing.
* Nelsonville-York’s Gavin Richards carried 17 times for 127 yards and three touchdowns, made three receptions for 42 yards, and recorded 14 tackles including two for loss in the Buckeyes’ 46-12 Tri-Valley Conference Ohio Division victory over Wellston on Friday night. Landen Inman added 82 yards and one touchdown on four receptions, and had a 38-yard interception return for one score.
* Trimble’s Xavier Cunningham carried 11 times for 110 yards and three touchdowns in the Tomcats’ 40-0 Tri-Valley Conference Hocking Division victory over Belpre on Friday night.
* South Gallia’s Hunter Wright accounted for 260 yards of total offense in the Rebels’ 46-8 Southern Ohio Conference Division I victory over Sciotoville East on Friday night. Wright racked up 133 yards rushing, 127 yards passing and three touchdowns on 19 combined touches between rushes and throws. He rushed for over 12 yards per carry and notched 16 yards per completion. The win also marked South Gallia’s first in the SOC I, as the Rebels are indeed first-year members of the SOC. The school was established in 1996 with the 2010 campaign being its first for football in a conference —the Tri-Valley Conference Hocking Division.
* Portsmouth junior running back Chase Heiland amassed 236 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries in the Trojans’ 28-6 Ohio Valley Conference victory over Chesapeake on Friday night. Heiland also had the run-oriented Trojans’ lone pass reception on only three attempts —for 15 yards.
* For the second time this season, the Portsmouth Notre Dame Titans tallied at least 72 points —and won by at least 72 points. In the season opener, the Titans defeated non-league Manchester 78-6. On Friday night, in a Southern Ohio Conference Division I tilt at Franklin Furnace Green, Notre Dame defeated the host Bobcats 72-0. This week, 5-2 and 2-0 in the SOC I Notre Dame will play host to 7-0 and 2-0 in the SOC I Beaver Eastern.
* Preble Shawnee quarterback Brody Morton threw just 10 passes completing 7 for 286 yards in their 52-22 win over Tri-County North. Five of Morton’s passes resulted in touchdowns 69, 68, 67, 51 and 15 yards to four different receivers. The Arrows play in the Western Ohio Athletic Conference and are 5-2 on the year and 4-1 in the conference.
* Springfield Northeastern High School sophomore Jackson Jones ran for 306 yards and three TDs as the Jets beat Triad 47-6 in an Ohio Heritage Conference North Division game in North Lewisburg. Jones scored on runs of 59, 64 and 4 yards for Northeastern, which had 483 yards of total offense and improved to 5-2 and 1-1 in the OHC North. The sophomore was 40 yards shy of breaking Northeastern's single game rushing record of 346 yards set by Billy Hess in 1957 against New Carlisle Tecumseh.
* Licking Valley had seven tackles for loss and four sacks in its 21-14 upset of Watkins Memorial, extending its winning streak to five games. Linebacker Caden Rhodes had eight tackles, four assists and three TFL. In the last four wins, the starting defense has allowed just four touchdowns.
* Johnstown senior Kaynen Lindsey carried 30 times for 242 yards, two touchdowns and two PAT runs in the 36-24 win against Newark Catholic.
* Heath junior Connor Corbett carried 18 times for 191 yards and two touchdowns, including an 81-yarder, and senior quarterback Brayden Bayles added 100 yards in 19 attempts and another score in a 21-14 win against Utica. It snapped the Redskins’ five-game winning streak, and they are off to their best start in 23 years.
* Granville junior Beckett Long threw three touchdown passes and ran for another in the 43-0 win against Linden McKinley, pushing the Blue Aces to 7-0 as the only unbeaten team in Licking County.
* Wayne Trace’s defense did what six prior opponents couldn’t do - intercept Antwerp QB Carson Altimus – but Altimus still tallied 301 yards and four TDs through the air, including 10 completions for 111 yards and two scores to Landon Brewer, in a 30-27 win over the Raiders. Altimus now has 1,819 yards passing and 26 TDs on 71 percent passing with one INT.
* Fairview snapped an 18-game losing streak dating back to the 2021 season by out-scoring Edgerton in a 44-35 barnburner. Sophomore QB William Zeedyk completed 19-of-30 passes for 217 yards and three TDS while rushing for 110 yards and two more scores.
* After an 0-4 start where they never scored more than 14 points in any game, the Napoleon Wildcats eclipsed the 40-point mark for the third week in a row, routing Toledo Bowsher 48-6. Jacob Aguilar rushed for 154 yards and a touchdown on 16 totes to lead the Wildcats.
* In an already dominant season that saw Liberty Center outscore opponents 287-48 through six weeks, the No. 3 Tigers were even more dominant against Division VII No. 2 Patrick Henry. LC outgained the rival Patriots 493-81, including 395-28 on the ground. Brothers Colton and Trenton Kruse each carried the ball eight times, Colton gaining 139 yards with five TDs and Trenton 149 yards and two TDs, while third brother Landen started defensively with two tackles.
* Kobe Foor made big plays on both sides of the ball for Paulding in the Panthers’ 48-21 win over Hicksville. The bruising back rushed for 164 yards and four TDs, hauled in a 69-yard reception and tallied 13 tackles, a sack and an interception on defense. The win is the third straight for Paulding, the first three-game win streak for the program since 1995.