Big area matchups highlight Week 1

Columbus Grove at Pandora-Gilboa Wake up grandpa, load up the kids, pack the van with enough tailgate goodies to feed your family and a bunch of relatives 'cause there are few better ways to kick off the football season than this battle between backyard rivals. Columbus Grove is coming off three straight trips to the state semifinals and has owned this matchup recently, winning five of the last seven games. Just two years ago, though, P-G beat the Bulldogs in a 25-22 thriller that the boys at the VFW are still probably talking about over morning coffee. The starting quarterbacks in this game – both senior veterans – share an interesting correlation. Due to an injury to Grove's starter, Landon Best had to step into the starting role late in his freshman year. He played well, had an excellent sophomore season when he earned third-team all-Ohio honors and was looking forward to a banner junior year before being sidelined by a Week 3 injury. Now recovered, he's back at full-go for the Bulldogs. Ironically, P-G's Cory Gerten also moved into the starting role and played well late in his freshman year. He threw for over 2,000 yards as a sophomore and was second-team all-BVC last season as a junior. It was Gerten's last-second TD pass to Aidan Morris that gave P-G the stunning 2023 victory over Grove. Best evened the score last year, throwing for 142 yards and a score and rushing for 34 yards and two more TDs in Grove's 35-7 win. Today's game will be the 74th meeting in the Route 12 Rivalry. The decision to move this season opener to a Thursday night was genius. They'll make a ton at the gate and a small fortune with the 50-50 drawing because not only will family, relatives and friends be stacked and packed three and four deep around the field, but football fans from all over who've been jonesing for that first kickoff will be in attendance, too. Ottawa-Glandorf at Liberty-Benton Liberty-Benton just might have one of those once-in-a-generation senior classes – very deep, very athletic, very talented, very experienced – that can make milestone waves this season and it will be tested and challenged right out of the gate by a school known for its competitiveness and athletic tradition. After posting an 11-4 record and reaching the Division V state semifinals in 2021, Ottawa-Glandorf had two out-of-character down years, going 2-8 in 2022 and 1-9 in 2023. But the Titans rebounded to go 6-6 a year ago, and 21 lettermen return for veteran head coach Ken Schriner, who has put up Hall of Fame numbers – 204-122 record, 19 playoff appearances – in his 28 years at the school. This year's senior class at L-B includes 17 football players, most two- and three-year lettermen. L-B coach Scott Garlock has 10 of 11 starters returning from a defense that led the BVC last season. He also has four returning BVC Players of the Year to put on both sides of the ball, including co-Offensive Player of the Year (Zach Elchert), Defensive Player of the Year (Austin Collert), Offensive Lineman of the Year (Will Granger) and Defensive Lineman of the Year (CJ Barbara). And that list doesn't include Seth Elchert, who led the league in receiving (58, 840 yards, 9 TDs) and interceptions (8) and is headed to Toledo on a football scholarship. Neither team will have much time to dwell on Friday's outcome. Liberty-Benton heads to Columbus Grove for a Week 2 showdown with the Bulldogs, then opens BVC play on Sept. 5 with McComb. O-G jumps right into Western Buckeye League play with a home game with Defiance. CAREY AT HOPEWELL-LOUDONPast members of the Midland Athletic League, Carey and Hopewell-Loudon went their separate ways when that league folded in 2014. Carey had an edge in the series in the final few years of the MAL, but Hopewell-Loudon has won three of the four games since the schools renewed the rivalry in 2021. One of those three wins was a 30-15 victory in 2021, the lone loss for Carey in a season where the Blue Devils went 15-1 overall and won the Division VI state championship. Strong quarterback play has been a key to H-L success and the Chieftains, 11-1 a year ago, are again solid at quarterback with the return of Jacoby Ellis, who threw for 1,400 yards last season. It was an Ellis pass to Braylon Martinez with 17 seconds to play that earned Hopewell-Loudon last year's 27-22 win over Carey. That loss was part of an 0-3 start for Carey, but the Blue Devils went 5-2 the rest of the regular season, made the Region 22 playoffs and finished 6-6. Carey coach Jonathon Mershman welcomes back a big senior class that typifies the ground-and-pound style that has made the Blue Devils so successful. Spearheading that attack will be Eli "Steen-Roller" Steen, a 6-1, 230-pound senior who churned out almost 1,500 yards and scored 19 TDs last season.