Area athletes step up as season reaches stretch run

COLUMBUS – Three more weeks. That is all that is left in the 2022 high school football regular season as teams from all around the state have just a few more chances to make final pushes towards league titles and playoff spots. There are plenty of players who will be instrumental for their teams in the final three weeks of the season and they also put up impressive performances in Week 7. Let's check them out with this week's OPSWA High School Football Notebook Findlay's Ryan Montgomery, a four-star recruit who has already gotten offers from many of the top-ranked programs in the country, completed 20-of-28 passes for 292 yards and six touchdowns in the Trojans' 48-17 win over Toledo St. Francis. It was the second straight week the 6-foot-3, 210-pound sophomore has thrown six TD passes, giving him 19 through seven games. McComb's Braxton Althauser rushed for three touchdowns and returned an interception 96 yards for a fourth score in the Panthers' 27-20 win over Arlington in a Blanchard Valley Conference matchup between two teams who were both 4-0 in the league and tied for the No. 8 spot in the Division VII state poll. Defending Division VI state champion Carey has traditionally been known as a grind-it-out, power-style of football team. In Friday's 48-0 win over Mohawk in a Northern 10 Conference game between the Wyandot County rivals, the No. 3-ranked Blue Devils displayed explosive big-play ability, however, returning a blocked punt for one score, returning another punt 50 yards for another, and getting a third TD on a 61-yard interception return. } Week eight's matchup will see one of the biggest turnarounds in a year's time from northwest Ohio. Defiance will host Celina in a battle of 5-2 squads, a year removed from Defiance going 3-7 and Celina finishing 1-9 in 2021. } George Green was a big-play machine for Hicksivlle, ripping off touchdown runs of 69, 24 and 59 yards in a 161-yard rushing output for the previously-winless Aces, helping defeat Paulding 34-15. } Liberty Center standout Matthew Orr needed only a few touches to make an impact in the Tigers' 49-7 rout of Bryan. Orr had five carries for the Tigers but racked up 235 yards thanks to touchdown runs of 60, 62, 35 and 75 yards in the first half. } Trey Parsons completed 29-of-33 passes for 316 yards for Wauseon, including 12 completions to Jude Armstrong for 141 yards, as the Indians defeated Patrick Henry 38-13. } Holgate QB Xavier McCord racked up 241 pass yards on just eight completions and 10 attempts, tossing four TD passes and rushing for another in a 50-14 rout of rival Stryker in eight-man action. } Sparta Highland running back Dane Nauman ran for 308 yards and five touchdowns on 39 carries in a 44-20 win over Shelby. It was his third 300-plus yard game this season and fourth of 200 yards or more. He has yet to post a sub-100-yard game this year, and now has 196 carries for 1,579 yards and 20 rushing touchdowns for the season. } Mansfield Senior had just 17 passing yards in a 27-20 win over Ashland as they piled up 290 yards on the ground and scored a defensive touchdown when Elias Owens returned an interception 43 yards for the score. Zyion Brown ran for 122 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries to help the Tygers improve to 5-2 on the year. } Ashland Crestview picked off three passes in a 37-7 win over South Central including a pick-6 by Caden Cunningham. The Cougars now have 11 interceptions in their first seven games of the season and are 7-0 and the lone remaining undefeated team in Richland County. The Cougars also recorded a safety on a sack by Owen Barker giving the defense eight points scored in the win. } Clear Fork scored the final 28 points in a 56-21 win over Pleasant to remain undefeated in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference. Quarterback Victor Skoog threw for 233 yards on 11-of-17 passing with two touchdowns, both to Jay Jackson who had five catches for 138 yards. Skoog also ran for 119 yards on 12 carries and a TD. The Colts are still tied for first place in the league. } Isaac Sexton ran for three scores as Sylvania Southview rolled to a 51-13 win over Maumee Friday in Northern Lakes League action. The Cougars improve to 5-2. } New Bremen quarterback David Homan rushed for a school record 353 yards and four touchdowns in the Cardinals' 62-27 win over St. Henry. Homan and running back Hunter Schaefer (119 yards, 4 touchdowns) combined for 472 of the team's 476 rushing yards in the win. } Minster quarterback Brogan Stephey was 17-of-26 for a school-record 456 yards and five touchdowns in the Wildcats' 48-20 win over Rockford Parkway. } Barring a rematch in the playoffs, Lakewood St. Edward handed Cleveland St. Ignatius its most lopsided defeat in their rivalry for what could be their final encounter in Chuck Kyle's 40 years leading the Wildcats. Kyle is retiring after the season, but St. Edward left Byers Field in Parma on Saturday with a 48-6 win and its most dominating performance of the season. Only a 47-0 St. Ignatius win in 1990 was a bigger blowout in the teams' storied rivalry. Overall, St. Ignatius still holds a 32-29-1 lead. St. Edward has had seven coaches in the time Kyle has led St. Ignatius, but only current coach Tom Lombardo has a winning record (6-4) against him. } Badin junior quarterback Alex Ritzie threw four first-half touchdowns and finished with 19-of-24 completions for 288 yards in leading the Division III's top-ranked Rams to a 42-14 demolishing of Alter. The win kept Badin undefeated at 7-0. } Middletown defeated Colerain 20-18 on Friday for the first time since Oct. 3, 2008, a string of 12 games as there were two years (2010 and 2014) the teams did not play each other. } Running backs Exzaviar Moody and Keegan Weiss combined for nearly 300 yards rushing and five touchdowns in leading Ansonia to a 44-17 win over National Trail on Friday. Moody led the ground attack with 188 yards and two scores, while Weiss totaled 109 yards and three touchdowns. } Freshman quarterback Brody Morton completed 13-of-15 passes for 330 yards and four touchdowns as Preble Shawnee knocked off Tri-County 54-13 in a Western Ohio Athletic Conference matchup. Senior Malechai Stephenson caught all four touchdown passes (from 49, 35, 49 and 64 yards) and finished with seven receptions for 243 yards. He also had a rushing touchdown in the win. } Xenia's Trei'Shaun Sanders ran for 265 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries, and Tremell Wright made all five of the team's receptions for 132 yards and two TDs as the Bucs' survived a scare at Vandalia Butler 35-20 to remain undefeated. } River Valley quarterback Cayden Shidone threw for 376 yards and ran for 173 more, plus top target Grant Butler caught 12 of those passes for 219 yards and three touchdowns in a 48-11 win over Marion Harding. } North Union's Owen Davis, a Purdue signee as a linebacker, ran for 187 yards and three touchdowns, plus added seven tackles and an interception on defense in a 48-14 win over Benjamin Logan. } Avon and Olmsted Falls combined for 15 touchdowns Friday night in the Eagles' 63-42 victory that puts them in the driver's seat for a seventh straight Southwestern Conference title. Avon also is coming off five straight state semifinal runs in Division II, but it put together an offensive performance for the record books. Senior receiver Ethan Holbrook hauled in five touchdown receptions, which just missed the Lorain County record set in 2015 by Grafton Midview's Logan Bolin. He had six, coincidentally, against Avon in a 55-35 win. Holbrook finished with 208 yards on 10 receptions. Junior running back Jakorion Caffey scored three TDs and rushed for 279 yards on 21 carries. Quarterback Sam DeTillio threw for 370 yards and six TDs on 18-of-25 passing. Meanwhile, Olmsted Falls senior Rocco Conti paced the Bulldogs with 240 yards and two TDs rushing. } Lamar Sperling of Akron Archbishop Hoban had another big game. The Buffalo commit rushed for 237 yards and four TDs on 27 carries in the Knights' 42-15 win against New York's St. Francis. He is unofficially at 1,624 yards rushing and 25 TDs on 159 carries on the season. } Senior quarterback Ryan Kerscher of Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit threw for a school-record 385 yards with five TDs on 20-of-29 passing in a 52-23 win at Chardon Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin. } Junior Danny Stoddard of Medina, already with more than 2,000 yards passing, added 432 yards and six TD passes to that with the Bees' 52-38 win against Mentor. } Dominic Johnson of Gates Mills Hawken rushed for 296 yards and three TDs on 31 carries in the Hawks' 35-27 win against Berkshire. Defensively, he added 12 tackles and an interception. } Division I No. 10 Springfield bounced back from its only defeat with a dominating 54-14 victory over No. 9 Springboro. Bryce Shondelmyer led the Wildcats with a career-high 492 yards. He threw touchdown passes of 60, 37, 52, 33 and 45 yards and completed 22 of 30 passes. Wide receiver Anthony Brown caught three touchdowns and had five catches for 146 yards. Daylen Bradley caught seven passes for 137 yards and a touchdown. } Tyrell Lewis threw for 215 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 102 yards and two touchdowns to lead Huber Heights Wayne to a 49-14 victory over Clayton Northmont. } Tavien St. Clair passed for 412 yards and seven touchdowns to lead Bellefontaine to a 53-32 victory over Springfield Shawnee.