Columbus-area high school football: 5 things we learned in Week 8
Just when the races for league championships and regional computer rankings seem to have taken shape, something happens to jumble the picture in central Ohio high school football.
A few results in Week 8, such as Upper Arlington’s 10-0 shutout of OCC-Central co-leader Olentangy Orange and Walnut Ridge’s 44-19 rout of City League-South leader Eastmoor Academy, are prime examples. So was East’s 22-16 win at Beechcroft, which knocked the Cougars from a tie atop the City-North with Northland but did not totally derail its title hopes, considering it hosts the first-place Vikings in Week 10.
“I saw a picture on social media the other day of a lion walking through a bunch of gazelles, zebras and other animals and I thought, that’s the City League-South for sure,” Walnut Ridge coach Clarence Daniels said. “We just don’t know who the lion is just yet.”
Here are five things we learned in Week 8:
1. Multifaceted offense helps fuel Canal Winchester
While the Indians’ defense has done its share to power an 8-0 start, giving up seven or fewer points in four games and never allowing more than 19, the offense’s lack of predictability has given opponents headaches.
Canal Winchester rushed for 310 yards in Friday’s 35-14 win over Westerville South. Senior and second-year starting quarterback Maxton Brunner threw for two touchdowns, senior running back Kaseem Wade totaled 162 yards and three scores on the ground and the ability to run and pass in any situation kept South’s defense off balance.
Brunner, Wade and senior running back Corey Howard, who was limited the past few weeks because of injuries, also played key roles last season as Canal Winchester went 7-5 and won a playoff game for the third consecutive season.
Ranked sixth in last week’s Division II state poll and second in Region 7, the Indians’ sights are set much higher this fall.
“I wouldn’t say we’re a team that runs one particular thing,” said coach Jake Kuhner, whose team averages 32.5 points. “We’re able to run multiple sets and we’re able to get in heavy sets. We’re able to get in empty sets. A lot of teams want to pride themselves on being whatever, but we’re kind of a mutt of an offense. We didn’t put up many points early in the year, but we’re starting to click a little bit.”
2. Hartley’s Sewell faces DeSales with heavy heart
Hawks junior center James Sewell played against DeSales on Friday despite a life-changing event the previous night.
Sewell contributed to Hartley’s 15-12 win after the death of his father, Daniel, on Thursday night. Following the game, Sewell’s teammates dedicated the win to James and his dad.
Coach Brad Burchfield noted it was Sewell’s decision to play.
“He called me late Thursday night and he said he wanted to play,” Burchfield said. “I said, 'Absolutely, of course.' He was obviously very emotional because they were really close. You want to give him a good memory. ... These are things that happen. This is real world; this is real life. It keeps things in perspective. It’s a good thing that you have an outlet and people around you that love you and care about you. It gives you some escape, at least for a little while.”
Conner Bjornson’s 32-yard field goal as time expired lifted Hartley (6-2, 1-1) to the CCL win.
3. Walnut Ridge’s progression continues with big win
The Scots’ resurgence after a five-game losing streak continued Friday with their second consecutive victory. With only three seniors on the roster, Walnut Ridge (3-5, 2-3) outscored West and Eastmoor 80-19 the past two weeks.
Junior two-way lineman Mason Wellborn and sophomores Marquis Lucas (QB) and Lee’Sean Sanders (WR) have emerged as the team’s top players, Daniels said. Lucas, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound transfer from Linden-McKinley, threw three of his four touchdowns Friday to Sanders.
“We had some backslides; we’re a young team and we’re learning,” Daniels said. “We might have been doing a little too much, so we’ve been scaling things back at practice and focusing on what we want to do. I’m so impressed by how the guys are watching film. They’re really becoming students of the game, recognizing tendencies and understanding things on a different level.”
Eastmoor and Marion-Franklin share the City-South lead at 4-1 and meet in Week 9. Africentric and Independence are 3-2, ahead of Briggs, South and Walnut Ridge by a game.
4. Dublin Coffman extends Hilliard Davidson’s losing streak
The Shamrocks stretched their longtime rival’s losing streak to four games, holding off the host Wildcats 21-20 on Friday in OCC-Central play.
Coffman (6-2, 2-1) led 21-0 at halftime. Davidson (4-4, 0-3) scored 20 points in the fourth quarter, but failed to convert the go-ahead two-point conversion attempt.
Shamrocks quarterback Quinn Hart threw for 121 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 99 yards and a score.
A run-first team, Davidson used the pass to get back in the game. Johnny DiBlasio completed 19 of 29 passes for 234 yards and touchdowns of 31, 13 and 4 yards to Mikey Clark.
The 4-yarder made it 21-20 with 1:16 remaining, but the two-point conversion pass failed. Davidson, which leads the all-time series 25-17, outgained Coffman 341-305.
"Our kids are tough, resilient kids," Davidson coach Jeremey Scally said. "It would have been easy to cash it in or start pointing fingers, but that’s not in their fabric. They’re team-first guys. There was no panic at halftime, just a commitment to go out and play hard and execute. That’s what they did. We just came up a point short, but I’ll bet on our guys all day."
The Wildcats also have six- and three-point losses during their skid, falling to Olentangy Berlin 20-14 on Sept. 15 and Orange 17-14 on Sept. 22.
Coffman is projected to be sixth in the Division I, Region 2 computer ratings this week, while Davidson is projected to be ninth in Division I, Region 3.
5. OCC-Ohio continues to intrigue
Even as Gahanna Lincoln and Pickerington North continue on an apparent collision course toward a Week 10 meeting that likely will decide the OCC-Ohio championship, the other teams in the division aren’t simply stepping aside.
Gahanna (8-0, 3-0) got enough offense Friday to overcome pesky Westerville Central and win 17-0. Diore Hubbard ran for 123 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries, and the Lions' 185 yards on the ground offset two Warhawks interceptions of Brennen Ward.
Despite its 1-7 record, Central also played North close two weeks ago in a 16-14 loss and edged Grove City 33-28 in Week 7. That same night, Gahanna held off rival New Albany 20-7.
North and Gahanna are projected to be second and third this week in Region 3, behind undefeated Hilliard Bradley.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Central Ohio high school football: 5 things we learned in Week 8
