Frank DiRenna, Scott Gerfen and Dave Purpura
| Columbus Dispatch
The first Friday night of the 2024 Ohio high school football season included some memorable performances. That was especially the case in our Week 1 games. We covered Harvest Prep stunning Pickerington Central 24-21, Groveport beating Hilliard Bradley 28-7 and Pickerington North falling to Lakewood St. Edward 28-0.
Here are takeaways from those games.
Harvest Prep’s Boff stays poised in first varsity start
Dripping in sweat and still seemingly feeling an adrenaline rush, Harvest Prep sophomore quarterback Collin Boff took a deep breath and thought about the drive that gave the Division V Warriors – a 2023 state semifinalist – a win in the first game in Division I Central’s new stadium.
Boff described the much-needed inspiration he received from coach Milan Smith with the Warriors trailing 21-18 with 4:24 to play.
“I was praying, and I didn’t know what I was going to do,” said Boff, a transfer from Hilliard Darby. “Coach Smith pulled me over and calmed me down. The pressure was big, and I wanted a touchdown. We kept at it and put a good drive together.”
The drive went 71 yards in a half dozen plays, capped by Boff’s 28-yard pass to Jamarcus Jones that made it 24-21.
Back-to-back penalties on the Tigers – a personal foul and an unsportsmanlike conduct – pushed the Warriors into Central territory.
Boff threw for 157 yards and completed 13 of 26 passes.
“He went out there and made some mistakes, kept at it, made some mistakes, kept at it. He never lost confidence; he never lost faith,” Smith said. “This will probably be the worst game you’ll ever see out of him. You watch, he’ll go down as one of the better quarterbacks this state has seen.”
The Warriors also showed a powerful running game with 6-foot, 225-pound junior Dezmond Porter racking up 161 yards and touchdowns of 5, 65 and 52 yards on 19 carries.
He had 106 yards rushing in the first half.
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Pickerington Central fails to keep momentum
The Tigers had a chance to tie it with 35 seconds left, but Carson Goulet missed a 42-yard field goal.
Central coach Jeff Lomonico, however, was more focused on momentum on both sides of the ball.
“We’ve got to do better at moving the ball all the time, and that’s my fault,” he said. “Defensively, we can’t play three good plays and then have a penalty and then leave somebody uncovered.”
Central used explosive plays to take a 14-12 halftime lead, with Kaejuan Alexander and Gerald Banks scoring on touchdown runs of 66 and 63 yards, respectively.
Alexander’s 1-yard run gave the Tigers a 21-18 lead with 4:24 left, finishing off a 10-play, 73-yard drive.
“I don’t think it was an effort thing for us,” Lomonico said. “I have to do a better job of understanding what we have and make adjustments to that.”
–Scott Gerfen
Groveport impresses on opening night
Coming off a 6-5 season and with several key players returning, Groveport coach Mitch Westcamp heard talk during the offseason about his team’s potential.
Westcamp, however, wanted to see his team in a regular-season contest before considering any hype.
The Cruisers ended up impressing their coach with a strong effort against visiting Bradley.
“I’ve been told all summer by everybody around the program how good this team is, but for me you don’t know,” Westcamp said. “You don’t know until you play that Week 1 game. We played a really good opponent tonight. (Bradley) won (Division I, Region 3) last year.”
Week 1 scores from around Ohio
Groveport was impressive on both sides of the ball in the first half and led 22-0 at halftime.
Raishad King led a balanced ground attack for the Cruisers, rushing for 92 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.
Groveport features two of the best defensive linemen in central Ohio in seniors Keishaun Calhoun and Jalen Joyce.
“We have a lot of experience on the defensive side of the ball and we have a running back who I feel is with the best of them,” Westcamp said. “A lot of people don’t talk about him. Raishad King is one of the best in the area.”
Groveport, Hilliard Bradley sophomore QBs go head-to-head
The game featured a pair of sophomore starting quarterbacks in Groveport’s Baker Bowden and Bradley’s Declan O’Neil.
Bowden, who started as a freshman, continues to impress Westcamp.
“We feel between our kid, the Bradley kid and the Thomas Worthington kid (Grey Kegley), there’s three unbelievable sophomore quarterbacks in central Ohio and two of them went at it tonight,” Westcamp said. “We have to shore up some things in the passing game. We had some drops. It’s there, we just have to hit them.”
O’Neil, who started in place of the injured Bradyn Fleharty in last season’s 26-3 Division I state semifinal loss to St. Edward, passed for 145 yards and a touchdown Friday. Fleharty now plays at Yale.
“Declan is pretty steady,” Bradley coach Mike LoParo said. “He missed some things tonight. He’s going to want to see this film. They had great cover guys, a good back end and their defensive line was very good.”
Hilliard Bradley must make adjustments
Coming off the state semifinal appearance, Bradley enters the season with high hopes, but LoParo realizes it might take time for his team to adjust with several new players in the lineup.
“I told them to keep plugging along, keep practicing, keep learning, keep getting better,” LoParo said. “Our goal is to be playing our best football as we move forward.”
Bradley had numerous scoring chances through the first three quarters but couldn’t convert.
“We didn’t finish plays,” LoParo said. “We dropped some balls tonight. We missed some throws tonight. We didn’t block well at times.”
–Frank DiRenna
Not much goes right for Pickerington North
The host Panthers couldn’t have scripted a rougher night against the three-time defending Division I state champions, punting on each of their first 10 possessions and generating only six first downs.
North’s defense shined at times with four interceptions – two coming from senior cornerback Tyson Long, a three-star recruit who has drawn 16 offers – but struggled to contain a deep St. Edward offense that amassed 193 of its 345 yards through the air.
“We just couldn’t get anything going – and credit to them, they have one of the best defenses in the state – but we killed ourselves with penalties,” Panthers coach Nate Hillerich said. “We could never get the momentum (or) get the field position flipped.”
A’mare Miller and R.J. Washington Jr. also intercepted St. Edward quarterback Thomas Csanyi, who otherwise was solid. Csanyi completed 11 of 21 passes, spreading his three touchdown passes among as many receivers and connecting with five for the game.
“Our defensive backs made some huge plays,” Hillerich said. “But (St. Edward) had a tipped ball for a touchdown and they threw a fade on fourth-and-8 for another one. Two plays that were big plays and just changed the momentum.”
North had two plays of over 10 yards, both 19-yard passes from Jarin Mock.
Playmakers abound for Lakewood St. Edward
Even with 1,900-yard all-state running back Brandon White back to anchor St. Edward’s ground game as a junior, the Eagles’ passing game took center stage from the second quarter on.
White was a factor as St. Edward ran 24 of the game’s first 27 plays, but Csanyi’s 39-yard scoring pass to Zach Hackleman and a 31-yard strike to Joe Saffold to cap the next drive essentially set the tone.
“Complementary football is what I talk about all the time,” St. Edward coach Tom Lombardo said. “Our defense and special teams played very well even though it took a little time to get our offense going. (Our receivers), not only are they talented, they’re smart. They understand coverages and how to get open in spaces.”
White finished with 88 yards and a score on 22 carries.
Penalties hurt Pickerington North
Hillerich rued North’s nine penalties for 84 yards, including two for defensive holding and five illegal procedure calls. Some of those negated big passing plays and cut down on the total yardage for running back Michael Taylor, an Ohio University commit who was held to 48 yards on 16 carries.
The Panthers never ran a play across midfield.
“We have to clean up the pre-snap penalties,” Hillerich said. “Too many illegal procedures and holds that put us in first-and-20. You just can’t do that and win games.”
–Dave Purpura
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Publish date : 2024-08-23 23:03:00
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