D.L.Burnworth

  Last night I was at Hamilton Ross High School for the 7:30 kickoff between the Columbus Crusaders and the Landmark Christian Eagles. The winner would get the number one seed for the Great Lakes Christian Athletic Conference Championship next Saturday at Indiana Wesleyan University. There will be a triple harder pitting the number 1, 2, and 3 seeds from the South Division of the Great Lakes Christian Athletic Conference against the top three seeds from the North Division. Gmae times will be 12, 3, and 7, and as it should, one ticket gets you in for all three games. The Eagles got things going with a 10-yard run from Noah Bryant. Later on the drive, Bryant picked up 20 yards when the Eagles were facing a fourth and one from their own 36-yard line. A 36-yard run from Jordan Jacobson kept things moving in the right direction. The combo of Bryant and Jacobson is as dangerous as it comes, especially when their offensive line fires off the ball. The drive would end on an incomplete pass

  *I used the rosters from both teams league sites.* London, Ohio- Friday night I made my second ever trip to London High School to watch the Red Raiders host Hamilton Ross in a Division 3 Region 12 playoff game. This would be my first time seeing Ross and my first time seeing London at home. The first time I was in London for a game, the field was still grass and London was playing in the Buckeye Athletic Conference. The only other time that I watched London pay was in a game in Hebron against the Lakewood Lancers. The Red Raiers would strike first on a 51-yard touchdown pass to June Turner from Chrsi Mason with 10:01 left in the opening quarter. After a flag was thrown on the Rams, London would convert a two-point conversion with Noah Sollers plowing in behind his hard-working offensive line to make the score 8-0. Isaiah Near would show how solid the London defense was going to be all night long when he got to Emory Severance for a loss of one. A punt would soon follow, getting th

  Saturday afternoon I made my first trip to Canal Winchester since the 2017 season; this time it was for a rare afternoon game pitting Groveport-Madison against the Idians from Canal. Due to previous incidents surrounding the game, security was tight, but the crowd was rule-abiding, showing they were there just to watch some exciting football. Corey Howard would use a twisting, turning powerful run to pick up 36 yards to get the large Indians crowd on their feet, with 9:52 showing on the clock. The Crusiers defense would respond with Jeremiah Moore picking off a pass at the 5-yard line and taking it back to the 43-yard line in Indians territory with a little under 9:00 minutes left on the clock. The Cruisers used a 23-yard catch from Altrovise Morris-Glenn to set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Raishad King, followed by a two-point run by multi-talented Jalen Joyce to make this an 8-0 game with 6:48 left. Groveport-Madison would light up the score clock again when Imar Dunlap scooped

  *Using rosters from Maxpreps* Saturday night took me to Worthnigton Christian, the host school for the Great Lakes Christian Athletic Conference playoff game between the Noblesville Lions and the Columbus Crusaders. This would be my second time seeing this matchup and my first visit to Worthington Christian. Columbus would set the tone early as to how this playoff game was going to go when Ezekiel Bowie broke a tackle while staying inbounds to rush for a 42-yard touchdown. A high snap played a part in the P.A.T. by Lucas Stoner being missed, keeping this a 6-0 game with 10:19 left on the clock. Bowie, who goes 5-7, 170 has spped to burn, though the most impressive thing about him is his power. I set beside his parents and said to his dad, Does he know he should run like Barry Sanders, not John Riggins? This brought a deep laugh from his father. Lance Hoffeditz is listed as a tight end on the Noblesville roster, but he was the starting quarterback tonight, and his first pass was pi

  *Using rosters from maxpreps and Hudl* Newark, Ohio- Last night I was back at White Field, this time watching the Newark Wildcats host the Lancaster Golden Gales. 2005 was the last time I can remember seeing the Wildcats play, and that was their 100th meeting with rival Zanesville. Newark would win that game 34-10. 2018 was the last time I had watched Lancaster play, and that was a game that they lost 28-7 to Reynoldsburg. The Wildcats defense got things headed in the direction they needed when Brody Driskel got to dangerous Jahmeir Gordon for a loss of 5 yards with 9:27 left in the opening quarter. Just 30 seconds later, Parker Camplbell would get the Lancaster's Isaiah Sweatee after a catch for a loss of 9 yards. The Wildcats would quietly go on a 9-play, 59-yard drive that cumulated in a 26-yard field goal from Sean Brechbill, making this a 3-0 game with 5:16 left in the quarter. Lancaster would get a nice 16-yard run from Brody Burke to move the chains. With 0.37 seconds

  Thursday night found me at Northland High School to watch the big Columbus City League rivalry game between Beechcroft and Northland. This is one of those rival games where records do not count for much because this game seems to be the Super Bowl for each team. Defense had ruled the first quarter until the final 1:58, where David Tran found Khalil Samual for a 31-yard Beechcroft touchdown on fourth and six, making this a 6-0 Cougar lead. Eighteen seconds later, Jayden Cherry raced 53 yards to lock things up with Jojo Djabo converging his P.A.T. to give Northland the 7-6 lead. Tran found Samuel with 3:01 left in the half, then a Tran to Tyrell Russell picked up 14 yards, but no points would come as the Vikings defense held true. The first half would see the Cougars run 32 plays, picking up 119 yards. For the Vikings, they ran 14 plays, picking up 85 yards. The two teams combined to throw 16 passes, with the Cougars throwing 14 of them. The Vikings used a 10-yard run to get the ba

  Braden Adkins Portsmouth West Running back/SSafety 2027 Heading into the season after all the practice was completed leading up to your first game, what did you learn about your team? Things I learned from my team leading up to our first game were how competitive we were because we lost 9 of the 11 players on defense, and seeing how hard our underclassmen were competing and working hard every day in practice for playing time was what stood out to me. What goals had you set for your team as you headed into the season? Every year our goal as a team is to win our conference and make a deep run into the playoffs. What goals have you set for yourself entering the season? Coming into the season, I knew we lost all four of our secondary players, so one of my goals was to work hard and compete for one of those spots. What has been the highlight of the 2024 season? The biggest highlight for me so far for the 2024 season was when we played a key opponent in our conference waverly at ho

  Preston Simko Butler High School Wr and Fs 2026 Heading into the season after all of the practices were complete leading up to your first game, what did you learn about your team? I learned that our team was ready to complete against the given team. All of our practices throughout the summer leading up to the first game were very competitive. What goals had you set for your team as you headed into the season? A team goal we set was to be at.500 or better, which we can still do with this last game left of the year. A personal goal I had set was to break the school single season receiving yard record, which I was on way above past after 4 games with 365 yards, then got my ankle sprained the next week and been out for 3 games and then been limited the last 2 games I’ve played. What has been the high light of the 2024 season? My personal highlight of the season so far was the first four weeks of the season and the 7on7 over the summer. The chemistry that I built with our QB was

  *Using rosters from Maxpreps and Hudl* My night game on Saturday took me from Bellaire to Harding Stadium in Steubenville, Ohio. The battle would be Steubenville Catholic Central hosting Conotton Valley. For two smaller type schools, I have to say the crowd was big and vocal. S.C.C. would make the first big play of the game when Kyran Busic sacked Rockets quarterback Zachary Putnam for a loss of four. Putnam shook of the sack with a 25-yard completion to Kamden Wright. Wright turned out to be a thorn in the side of the S.C.C. defense a lot this night. Putnam found Brooks Bower for 11 yards, then he capped the drive off with a 25-yard touchdown throw to multi-talented Gavin Haney. Coltin Hott was true on his P.A.T., making this a 7-0 game with 5:56 left on the clock. On the ensuing kickoff, Haven Ralston took the ball back 55 yards to the Rockets 20-yard line. It took The Crusaders had 6 plays to get into the endzone, with Jimmy Hernongoing the final 3 yards to make this a 7-6 game