Olentangy Orange 28 Cincy St. X. 14
Not so long ago a Central Ohio battle against a Southwestern Ohio state final game was almost an afterthought as far as the winner goes, and it came down to one of the big private schools playing a public school from Central. In the Ohio D-1 state final, the outcome seems to always favor the private school. Oh, my, how things have changed in recent times. Now a Central, Ohio, public school is looking for a second straight win in the big school D-1 game, and making the statement louder was that this was another team from the Olentangy area seeking to bring the title back to Central, Ohio.
The Pioneers won the toss and elected to defer to the 2nd half. So it would be the potent Bombers offense. against the choke-holding Pioneer defense to get this game started. The defense won out as they held the Bombers to 6 yards.
Levi Davis was the bright spot on the Orange opening drive with a 25-yard run. For St. X, the defensive highlight would be a Jax Hendon pass breakup to force a turnover on downs.
After the Orange defense forced another three and out where they gave up just two yards, their offense would get to work.
Lucas Fickle would total 16 yards on three straight runs, and then Davis picked up 10 yards to keep things going. The drive would end six seconds into the 2nd quarter with Davis going to his right and scoring from 2 yards out; after Tyler Gibson was true on the PAT, we had a 7-0 game.
The Bombers offense took the field for the first time in the 2nd quarter and looked like a boxer who had had a horrible first round. Jake Britt would get things going with a little 4-yard run. Jackson Frey delivered a strike to Aidan Newdigate for a gain of 11 yards to move the chains. Frey hit three straight passes for 18 yards with Connor Bareswilt, Cameron Taylor, and Logan Von Holle each making a catch. After Frey was sacked by Brennan Kesler for a loss of seven, he countered that with a 13-yard completion to Britt. Britt ended the drive with a 39-yard touchdown run followed by the PAT from Cameron Taylor, locking this one up at seven.
The Pioneers wasted little time taking the lead back at 14-7 as they went 68 yards on 7 plays, taking just 2:14 to do so. The big play on the drive was a Davis 34-yard pass to MC Walker that helped set up the 4-yard touchdown pass from Davis to Walker.
The Bombers offense would get a break when Treyton Schroder looked to have picked off a Frey pass and returned it 46 yards for the Orange touchdown, but a pass interference was called on Kingston Johnson, taking the points off of the board. The drive would end with a punt a few plays later.
The Pioneers started their next drive with under three minutes left in the half. Davis rushed for a gain of nine to get the ball rolling. Davis hit Walker to keep things moving in the right direction. Another rush by Davis for 10 yards moved the chains again, bringing the offense closer to pay dirt. A 39-yard pass from Davis to Walker helped set up the 15-yard touchdown pass to Lucas Fickle to make this a 21-7 game at the half.
Davis would rush for 26 yards on the opening drive of the 2nd half, and he would throw for 33 yards. The icing on the cake would be the 4-yard touchdown run by Fickle, who had 23 rushing yards on the drive that totaled 86 yards on 11 plays, making this a 28-7 game.
St. X would score one more time in the final frame on a drive that went for 92 yards on 15 plays. Frey to Newdigate 12-yard touchdown pass closed out the scoring, making the final 28-14. Frey had a 24-yard run on the drive.
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