High school football: Week 4

Bishop Watterson at ColumbianRecords: Bishop Watterson 3-0; Columbian 2-1Last year: Bishop Watterson, 33-14.Outlook: Columbian's schedule surely will get the Tornadoes ready for SBC Lake play. After hosting Fremont Ross in Week 1, TC headed to No. 1 Chardon (Division III) in Week 2, hosted a Shaw team it obliterated in Week 3, but in Week 4, here comes the No. 2 team in the state – Bishop Watterson. The Eagles were the state runners-up last season falling to Toledo Central Catholic in the state final. With quite a few players returning this season, it's easy to see why they're ranked so high to start the season. They've beaten Big Walnut 20-0, Dublin Scioto 45-0 and Westerville North 41-6 this year."Been a good week of focus so far and it was good to get many first-time contributors in the end zone like Blake Miller, Braden Egbert, Izaac Woessner and DaShawn Russell last week," TC coach Judd Lutz said. "We need to keep that momentum, but it's going to be a really tough game Friday. They've been good for a number of years now and made that run to the state title game last season. They have some key guys back and they have high hopes again this year and when you look at the roster you can see why."Last week Eagles' QB Drew Bellisari – a familiar last name for Buckeyes fans – ran 10 times for 180 yards and two touchdowns and tossed two more TDs through the air."The quarterback returns and they have three really good players on the perimeter back including a tight end, an X receiver and a kid in the slot," Lutz said. "They have some guys back on the O-line and they rotate multiple guys in the backfield to keep them fresh. The team is really well built when you look at it … they have a lot of options of how to attack you."They've been really good on defense for a good stretch of time. They're very active and they move everyone around. They have 11 dudes with outstanding speed on the field at once, so we have to do the little things right Friday night. We're not going to gash them schematically, so we're gonna have to run through tackles, make contested catches and make them miss at the next level. We have to take of the small things." Calvert at LakotaRecords: Calvert 2-1; Lakota 1-2Last year: Calvert, 52-13.Outlook: The focus will be on the field Friday night at 7 p.m., but it's only natural for the talk leading up to the Calvert-Lakota matchup to center around coach Mike Lento. The former Lakota coach left the Raiders after last season to coach the Senecas. Now in Week 4, Lento will head back to Kansas to face his former players and former assistant coach Ryan Lozier."Lakota was a great place for me and for my family. They were the ones that gave me a shot at being a head coach and I'm grateful for that," Lento said. "I believe where God has led me is home. It feels like home at Calvert and I'm happy with where we're at. Not that I was looking for another job in the offseason, it just kind of happened. "But I do always want to see Lakota be successful and for coach Lozier to be successful, but the game plan is a little different this week. Our guys are ready to rock and roll and they better be because Lakota has some top-notch athletes."Calvert is coming off a win at Norwalk St. Paul, while Lakota took a loss at Northwood last Friday. "I told our guys to play with that chip on their shoulder this week," Lozier said on Heart of Ohio Sports Tuesday night. "It's cool to play a familiar face. There's no bad blood there, but it's not something you get to do every day. We're excited and we have to focus on us, not our opponent."We gotta play hard and we're sticking to our guns and we're gonna do what we do. We'll of course change some things up and we'll show that on Friday night, but we know they're good, that they're big up front and that they want to run the ball. I just want our guys to go out there and play fast and have fun." Wynford at Seneca EastRecords: Wynford 1-2; Seneca East 1-2Last year: Wynford, 66-34.Outlook: Every week is important in high school football but to Seneca East, it's almost a must-win this Friday night. After starting the season 1-2 against some really good competition, the Tigers begin the N10 slate with Wynford at home and still have teams like Carey, Colonel Crawford and an improved Mohawk on the schedule. A win over the Royals would be a nice confidence boost."We actually played pretty well overall last week (loss to Monroeville), but it was just a three to five minute stretch in the second quarter where things got away from us," SE coach Ed Phillips said. "We need to eliminate those lapses we have. We talked a lot about this weekend and this week and I think the kids understand."It's another week and SE is facing another run-heavy team. Wynford has only thrown the ball 21 times in three games as Brayden Campbell is 9 of 21 passing for 91 yards and four interceptions. But Wynford's Anthony Evans leads the league in rushing so far with 67 attempts for 412 yards and four TDs. "They like to run it just like last year. They have a couple really good backs and have a good quarterback that can throw it if they choose to," Phillips said. "It's pretty straight forward what the plan has to be to be able to stop them, so hopefully we can do that to be successful Friday night."On defense, they have two big tackles up front with some good size and they have some speed at linebacker. They have a lot of team speed on that side of the ball, so we're gonna have to get open and make those contested catches and get some movement up front to run the ball inside." Genoa at FostoriaRecords: Genoa 2-1, Fostoria 1-2.Last year: Genoa won 55-14.Outlook: After two weeks of struggling, Fostoria's offense and defense unloaded last Friday on Woodward to earn the Redmen their first win of the year and the first of Derek Angelone's career."We just wanted to prove to the kids that they can play the game of football, and we felt that that was a game that we should win and we went out and handled business," Angelone said.However, he stressed, now is not the time to sit back and dwell on that victory, but to buckle down and continue to improve."Now we have to go harder. We preach that and we found those coaching points in everything that we do," Angelone said."We preached not getting complacent, and just making sure that you're going out there looking for more wins, staying hungry," he said. "Don't get complacent with one (win), don't be happy with one (win), let's go prove to someone that we have more to offer."The next opponent to prove something against is Genoa, which travels Friday to Fostoria to open Northern Buckeye Conference play.Fostoria's last win against the Comets came in a 36-31 battle in 2019, the Redmen's only win against Genoa since the NBC began in 2011.A big step to getting Win No. 2 comes along the offensive line, Angelone said."We've got to improve offensive line play. We've got to, got to, got to," he said. "We've got to be able to run the ball. We've got to be able to pick up blitzers and not let teams load the box on us, and be able to identify blitzers out of our quarterback position and go make easy throws."This week, that's a massive focus for us, to make sure we're identifying blitzers, getting the ball out of our quarterback's hands fast and still be able to establish a run game early and do stuff that we have to," he said. Gibsonburg at Hopewell-LoudonRecords: Gibsonburg 2-1, Hopewell-Loudon 3-0.Last year: Hopewell-Loudon won 26-7.Outlook: Hopewell-Loudon went into this year's non-league schedule looking for challenges, and found them every week. The Chieftains also found success, and plenty to build on for the rest of the season."That's why we did it. We knew we had a pretty good team and we wanted to challenge them up front and find out where we were," coach Brian Colatruglio said. "It exposes some weaknesses and things you have to work on when you play teams like we've played, and it's just going to keep making us better as we go."The benefit of the whole thing is, we got through it 3-0 and we're healthy and I would've signed up for that before the season started," he said. "Now, it's kind of turn the page and get ready to go and compete for a league title."Step 1 for another Sandusky Bay Conference River Division crown comes Friday against visiting Gibsonburg.The Division VII Golden Bears dropped a 12-7 nail-biter last week to Division V Edison (Gibsonburg plays only two fellow Division VII this year) and offer plenty of challenges, Colatruglio said."They've got a big offensive line, they're physical up front, they have multiple guys that can run the ball. They run the Wing-T about as well as anybody around," he said. "Coach (Joe) Wyant does a great job of exploiting any weakness in your defense, and it really requires assignment football. Everybody has to be in the right spot and do your job or they're going to expose you fast."The Golden Bears have only thrown for 107 yards and two touchdowns this year, but average just over 300 rushing yards per game.Resse Walby leads the rushing game with 351 yards and five touchdowns, with Grant Smith adding 338 yards and three more TDs. Grant Dawson (129 yards, 2 TDs) provides depth in the ground game.Hopewell-Loudon will try to counter that attack with a veteran-heavy lineup across the line and at linebacker."It's strength on strength. They want to run the ball and be physical, and I think our run defense is the strength of our team, as well. We're going to find out," Colatruglio said. "They're going to challenge us, for sure. It's going to be a really good matchup. If you like offensive and defensive line play, this is going to be a good game to come watch."Mason Reinhart leads H-L's defense with 25 tackles and three sacks, while Will Nutter has 24 stops.Brayden Brickman (20), Scott Turco (19), Jack Colatruglio (18) and Aiden Ewald (15) have also proven effective so far stopping opponents, with Ewald also registering three sacks and Colatruglio picking off two passes.While coach Colatruglio said the defense will be challenged, he added he's looking for his offense to improve from last week.The Chieftains moved the ball effectively, gaining more than 400 yards of offense, but turnovers, penalties and failure to convert third and fourth downs played huge roles in keeping them out of the end zone."We have to be more consistent. Our blocking isn't as consistent as it needs to be. We struggled (Friday) in the Red Zone, we had a couple big penalties in the Red Zone that put us back behind the chains," coach Colatruglio said. "We've got to finish drives." Upper Sandusky at CareyRecords: Upper Sandusky 1-2, Carey 0-3.Last year: Carey won 61-14.Outlook: Week 4 means the start of the conference slate for most teams in Ohio, and it would be difficult to find a team more grateful for that than Carey.The Blue Devils started the season 0-3 for the first time since 2019, with Upper Sandusky visiting Friday in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference opener, looking to make Carey suffer its first four-game losing streak since 2015.But even though his team's still winless, Carey coach Jonathon Mershman said the Blue Devils can still accomplish big goals — earn a winning season, claim the N10, make the postseason, host a playoff game."Everything we want, we're still in full control of, but we don't have any more mulligans. We have to go out there and we have to perform week in and week out," he said. "Hopefully we learned everything we needed to learn and are experienced enough now to take those games (we lost) and make them into victories."Upper Sandusky coach Russell is looking for much of the same from his teams.The Rams enter 1-2, but haven't beaten Carey or even won at Carey since a 20-6 triumph in 2015. Coincidentally, that was the first of Carey's four-game slide that year."It's going to be hopefully a good game, and hopefully we can match their physicality and our mental sharpness can help us execute more efficiently to put us in a place to win in the fourth quarter," Hall said."It should be a good game. I'm looking forward to it," he said. "It's a great opportunity for our boys to start off (conference play) with traditionally one of the top two teams in our league. This could be a very big game for us."Carey enters with a rush-first mentality, with Eli Steen (2 TDs) averaging 103 of the team's 176 yards per game.Quarterback Kyler Boes has thrown for 183 yards and rushed for 72 more, but he's also thrown six interceptions. Tripp Phoenix leads the receiving corps with six catches for 126 yards.The Blue Devils may be winless, but Hall said that doesn't mean they aren't formidable with the ball."They run a lot more option this year than in years past. They're hard-nosed, very physical in all facets of the game. A traditional Carey team," he said. "They may be 0-3, but they were in every game."They run the option better than past Carey teams that I can recall. It's definitely something a little bit different," he said. "We haven't faced a consistent option team this year."The linebacking corps leads the way for Carey's defense.Mace Puckett (34) and Dash Puckett (30) each have at least 30 tackles, Logan Summit (24) and Carter Bame (23) both have more than 20, and Louis Watkins (18) isn't far behind them.Upper Sandusky counters all that with an offense averaging just over 200 yards per game through the air.Justin Heilman has thrown for 523 yards and four touchdowns on his own, with Kaleb Francis reeling in 20 receptions for 204 yards and four scores.Max Martinez (9-134), Josh Heilman (7-48) and Brodie Cox (5-84) have also helped out as receivers, with Ethan Lewis rushing for 212 yards and two touchdowns.Mershman said keeping the Rams in check won't come easily."We're just going to do what we normally do, which is run the ball and stop the run. But the problem is, Upper's not going to try to run the ball as much as they have (in the first three games), they're going to try to throw all over us so we've got to be ready for that," he said."Upper's going to offensively be a dynamic team. They're going to spread you out and you've got to account for everybody on the whole field the entire game," he said. "On defense, they're going to give us a whole lot of different looks and a whole lot of different things we're going to have to get ready for and be ready to handle."As with Carey, the Rams rely heavily on their linebackers.Lewis tops the team with 33 tackles, Braxton Rimmer has 23 and Cox adds 18."Both teams are going to play extremely hard. It's going to be a really tough game," Mershman said. "Upper's always played us tough, they always play us hard. I know the records don't look that great but this is going to be a really good game. Really, at this point, if we can't get excited and get up for this game, then I don't know what we can get up for." Bucyrus at Buckeye CentralRecords: Bucyrus 0-3, Buckeye Central 1-2.Last year: Buckeye Central won 55-14.Outlook: Buckeye Central broke into the win column last week and Friday hosts Bucyrus in the season's first Northern 10 Athletic Conference game."It's kind of a double-edged sword, that you taste a little success and you tend to get a little loose and let the foot off the gas, but we've been trying to maintain the intensity that we had last week," Buckeye Central coach Jordan Phillips said. "But it's easier to motivate kids when they see the reward of doing things the right way and playing hard. Certainly some good energy (in practice)."We feel like there's things we can take advantage of, and we're going to try to put our kids in the best position we can to be successful," he said.The Bucks face a team struggling on offense, averaging only 106 yards rushing and just under 87 yards passing per game.Dylan Coppler has thrown for 260 yards and a touchdown, with three interceptions.Christian Neal has been his main receiver, catching 16 passes for 157 yards and the lone score.Demaris Munn-Page adds 240 yards on the ground with another TD.Still, Phillips said the Redmen pose problems."Very athletic. They just have an ability to generate explosive plays. They've got a lot of nice athletes," he said. "Schematically, they put their kids in the best position they can to be successful. They're going to be a challenge."The Bucks look to continue using a share-the-wealth approach when it comes to stopping Bucyrus.Mason Clay (linebacker) and Matthew Heefner (defensive lineman) both have 11 tackles, with Corbin Bloomfield (defensive back), Hunter Caudill (defensive back), Collin Perry (defensive back) and Dylan Heydinger (defensive lineman) each tallying 10. Madden Alt (linebacker) backs them with nine tackles, and Jack Phillips (defensive back) has picked off two passesOther challenges for Buckeye Central come against the 3-3 stack defense the Redmen run.Linebackers Jake Green (37) and Hayden Butcher (36) have combined for 73 tackles so far this year, while the defensive backfield shows Coppler with 21 and Neal with 16."Philosophically, they've got players that are 100 percent committed to the run and players that are 100 percent committed to the pass, with only a couple with a foot in both worlds," coach Phillips said. "We feel like there's some weak areas in that defense and we'll try to attack those."Quarterback Jack Phillips leads Buckeye Central's offense, throwing for 392 yards and five touchdowns while running for 297 yards and two more scores.Alec Phillips heads up the receiving corps with 14 catches for 142 yards and two touchdowns, with Bloomfield (12-68, TD), Caydin Jarvis (6-107, 2 TDs) and Caudill (9-55) adding depth. Toledo St. Francis at ClydeRecords: St. Francis 2-1; Clyde 3-0.Last year: Did not play.Outlook: Clyde has gotten better each week, but the Division IV, No. 9 Fliers get a step up in competition when they welcome Toledo St. Francis this week.If things go right for Clyde, it could be win No. 100 for coach Ryan Carter, who has a 99-38 record in his 12th season."I feel like we have improved each week to this point," Carter said. "We need to continue to grow in each phase of the game because we have a very tough road ahead with our schedule coming up."The Fliers have a pair of shutouts this season, blasting Bellevue (34-0) and Toledo Waite (42-0). In between, Clyde topped Toledo Start (49-25).But, things will be tougher this week against the Knights, who lost a close opener to state-ranked Perrysburg (28-21) before wins over Toledo Scott (49-12) and Birmingham Brother Rice (49-28)."St. Francis this week presents issues for us in all three areas of the game," Carter said. "Their overall team speed is going to be an issue for us to handle this week. They have fast kids at the skill positions and a bigger line than we have seen on both sides so far. We need to play well in space, block well in space, and tackle well in space. That will be key for us this week."The first-team defense for Clyde has been lights out thus far. Even against Start, Clyde was up 49-6 in the fourth quarter before the Spartans scored some points late to make the score closer.Hector Garza leads the Fliers' defense with 24.5 tackles. Clyde has forced a handful of turnovers and sacked the opposing quarterback a few times."We have been able to get lined up and play fast and that has helped us on defense," Carter said. "We will see a much higher level of speed this week so playing fast will be key."The offense has been pretty darn good for Clyde too, averaging almost 42 points a game. Brennan Wilson has completed 26-of-40 passes for 360 yards and four touchdowns while Jonathan Lantz is 13-of-21 for 144 yards and four touchdowns.Adam Young leads the ground game with 34 carries for 197 yards and three scores. Mason Flewelling has also rushed for three TDs."Our offense has continued to grow and improve each week," Carter said. "We have been able to stay balanced and that is very key for any offense." Mohawk at Colonel CrawfordRecords: Mohawk 2-1; Colonel Crawford 3-0.Last year: Colonel Crawford, 41-12.Outlook: Mohawk has righted the ship after a heart-breaking Week 1 loss at Calvert.The Warriors will face perhaps their toughest test of the season when they travel to Division VI, No. 10 Colonel Crawford on Friday."We have a really resilient group," Mohawk coach Eric Daniel said. "They have high expectations for themselves and have stayed hungry regardless of the outcome of one particular game. I am encouraged in that I feel, as a collective group, we have improved every week, and our kids are taking coaching very well. In order to improve, you have to want to fix the little things and this group wants that."After a one-point loss to Calvert, Mohawk bounced back with big wins over Cardington-Lincoln (54-6) and Margaretta (36-14).The Warriors are led by quarterback Ben Bogner, who has completed 40-of-59 passes for 677 yards and nine touchdowns. On the ground, he has run 33 times for 196 yards. His top target is Kahne Hayman, who has hauled in 23 of those passes for 435 yards and six scores."Offensively, our offensive line continues to get better every week," Daniel said. "Our skill guys continue to step up and make plays. Defensively, our kids are really establishing their identity of toughness and swarming to the ball with good leverage. Most importantly, I feel our leadership and team chemistry has only gotten better every week. We have a lot of young men out there playing for each other and not themselves and it has been very encouraging to see."Mohawk will have to stop the run against the Eagles if it wants a chance. Colonel Crawford leads the Northern 10 Athletic Conference with 82 carries for 808 yards, 15 touchdowns, and zero fumbles. The top rusher is Connor McMichael, who has rushed 26 times for 379 yards and six TDs. Dominic Dean has five rushing touchdowns and quarterback Peyton Baker has completed 13-of-21 passes for 336 yards and four scores."They are very well-coached," said Daniel of the Eagles who were 10-2 last year. "They play incredibly hard and are very deep and extremely talented. We can have no lulls in focus, intensity, or our physicality if we want to win. We need to take care of the ball, have possessions that end in kicks, and play disciplined in all three phases for four quarters."Mohawk was 0-3 in the non-league slate last year, so it has already improved. But, the Warriors want to compete for a league title and a win Friday against the preseason media poll pick would go a long way towards that."We are now into league play and into the second - and more important - part of our season," Daniel said. "We have worked out a lot of kinks and want our guys to be focused on us and improving the little things that add up during the course of the game. The first step to success is playing hard and playing together. Now, if you want to beat great teams like Colonel Crawford you need to be extremely coachable, accountable, and work on being a master of your craft." Bellevue at NorwalkRecords: Bellevue 1-2; Norwalk 2-1.Last year: Bellevue, 26-0.Outlook: Bellevue enters Friday's contest at Norwalk after suffering a second 34-0 loss this season.After getting skunked by Clyde in the season opener, the Redmen lost by the same score last week against Shelby.Bellevue gets a chance to rectify things when it faces a Norwalk team that is coached by Fostoria graduate Keith Mora."We need to remain strong on defense and stop the run," said Mora of facing Bellevue. "Offensively we must take care of the ball and not get behind the chains."The Redmen are led by Ike Brown at quarterback. Through three games, he has completed 28-of-68 passes for 282 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. On the ground, he has rushed 58 times for 139 yards and two scores. Cooper Moyer is the top target with 12 receptions for 119 yards for Bellevue."I believe that our defense has grown in their confidence each week," Mora said. "We believe in our unit and they are doing a good job swarming to the football and tackling at the initial contact."For Norwalk, Brayden Viock has completed 22-of-45 passes for 280 yards, three touchdowns, and two picks. Nico Helton is the leader on the ground with 61 carries for 239 yards and three TDs. Viock's top receiver is Ben Rothhaar - a Rutgers commit - who has six receptions for 69 yards.Rothhaar leads the defense with 31 tackles."Defensively, we like that we are able to be even on both sides of the center and have an overhang on both sides of the offense at all times," Mora said. "Offensively, we are pretty multiple, which allows us to be balanced in the passing and running game. Our team is still growing in both areas."