High school football: Week 10

Perkins at ColumbianRecords: Perkins 6-3, 3-0 SBC Lake; Columbian 5-4, 3-0 SBC LakeLast year: Perkins, 42-7.Outlook: In a season full of ups and downs, Columbian has the chance to win a SBC Lake title and punch a ticket to the postseason. But the Tornadoes have to go through Perkins, of course.After a state runner-up season in 2024, Perkins started a bit slow out of the gate this year, but has really picked it up in the later part of the season. But so has Columbian as it's coming off a great offensive performance in a 49-20 rout of Clyde last week."They were missing some guys early in the season and they did get them back and it showed because they've been clicking and they have some good athletes on both sides of the ball with some quick big guys up front," TC coach Judd Lutz said. "They have a quarterback who is playing really well right now. If he misses he's not missing by much and their protecting him well and he's making all the throws. They're playing really well right now."Perkins' QB Sam Schweinfurth is 130-190 for 1,993 yards with 22 touchdowns and only one interception this season. Braxden Martin has 70 carries for 454 yards and five scores on the ground, while Levi Jackson has 44 carries for 254 yards and five TDs and Blake Parker leads the receivers with 56 grabs for 973 yards and eight scores."We have to pick our spots to bring some pressure and try to get home, but also we have to cover them too, so there's some strategy involved in trying to slow (Schweinfurth) down," Lutz said. With a win, the Tornadoes will claim the league title, but also have a good chance of making the postseason – a scenario unlikely just a few weeks ago as the Tornadoes have had their backs to the wall for much of the season."It's championship week even after all the ups and downs and even after feeling like we let a couple get away from us this season," Lutz said. "We are in position to win and accomplish two of our first goals, which is win the conference and punch a ticket to the playoffs. If we don't do that, we'll be 5-5 and we'll probably be sitting at home in Week 11 and I'll be miserable for a while, so it's all or nothing." Willard at CalvertRecords: Willard 2-7, 0-6 SBC River; Calvert 3-6, 2-4 SBC RiverLast year: Calvert, 42-6.Outlook: Calvert needs a win this week over visiting Willard and it needs a lot of help to keep playing beyond this week. But the focus first is on Willard and getting that win to end the regular season. The Senecas gave Woodmore a good run for its money last week, but came up a little short in a 38-31 loss on the road. "Yes, that one stings. We made adjustments as needed, but we came up just short," Calvert coach Mike Lento said. "We liked our game plan, and the guys fought their tails off to come back twice and never gave up. That's our focus and mindset—control what we can control. Right now, that means preparing for Week 10 and making sure we send our seniors out on a high note."This final game is a building block heading into the offseason. It's another opportunity for our players to strap up the pads together—maybe for the last time for some of them—and finish the season with pride."Willard has struggled mightily in the league, but do have some playmakers if given the space. The Flashes have two quarterbacks who have played this season as Josh Huston is 57 of 109 passing for 706 yards with six touchdowns and six picks, while Jake Rothaar is 40 of 65 passing for 647 yards with five TDs and three picks. Rothaar also adds 74 carries for 454 yards and seven scores on the ground.Paxton Flores is the leading receiver with 35 grabs for 689 yards and five TDs. "They like to spread the ball around and they do have athletes," Lento said. "They have a top tackler in the league so they have players that can play football. They are much like us having to deal with some injuries early and often which has guys stepping up and play new positions or at time our of position. I am certain they are much like us coming in hungry for a win to end their season as well."We've reminded our players that our time together is limited, and every practice and every snap matters with this group. This team has faced adversity and injuries all season, but their resilience and growth will carry with them for the rest of their lives." Seneca East at MohawkRecords: Seneca East 6-3, 4-2 N10; Mohawk 8-1, 5-1 N10Last year: Mohawk, 21-13.Outlook: One team is vying for a share of the N10 championship, and the other is looking for a signature win and a nice boost of momentum heading into the playoffs. In Week 10, there's a lot to play for for Mohawk and Seneca East.The Warriors are coming off an emotional overtime win at rival Carey last week to vault them back into a share for the league title race. "I am sure both teams are sore, and it's natural to come back off an emotional win like that, and want to coast or ease up a little, as a group and a team, we have to fight that urge with everything in our being, because Seneca East is a great football team," Mohawk coach Eric Daniel said. "We both have a lot to play for, and it is always a great game. We told our guys, if we have to get you up and excited to go win a league championship, then we are all in the wrong profession."A key to a win for Mohawk will be slowing down SE's offense – mainly quarterback Nicholas Parks.The senior signal caller leads the Tigers in passing and rushing this season as he's 96 of 173 passing for 1,496 yards with 15 touchdowns and seven picks. He has 124 carries for 534 yards and six TDs on the ground."(Parks is) an excellent athlete, tough kid who plays hard," Daniel said. "They are excellent up front, very physical. Their wide receivers are holistically young, but talented and have improved every game. They are extremely athletic and dangerous and have very good speed and ball skills, the (Jackson) Gayheart kid runs hard, and is downhill. We will need to play our best game defensively to slow them down."Gayheart has 99 carries for 590 yards and six TDs for the Tigers, while receivers Elijah Cline (5), Ethan Shultz (3) and Gunner Polachek (4) have 12 scores between them. On the flipside, Mohawk has been a balanced offensive machine for a lot of the season with great quarterback play from Andon Clouse and tough running from Kaden Bish in the backfield."They have a really good pair in the backfield and Clouse has thrown the ball really well and he has some decent targets out there as well," SE coach Ed Phillips said. "They do a good job of keeping things balanced with some big plays in the passing game like they did last week against Carey."Clouse is 77 of 118 passing for 1,449 yards with 16 TDs and two picks, while also carrying the ball 122 times for 753 yards and 10 more scores.Bish has 103 carries for 1,040 yards and 17 TDs. Levi Tiell has 24 catches for 657 yards and seven TDs, while Brant Kirian adds 32 grabs for 530 yards and six scores. Otsego at FostoriaRecords: Otsego 4-5, 2-4; Fostoria 0-9, 0-6.Last year: Otsego won 34-7.Outlook: Neither team has a shot at the playoffs, making Friday's game one for pride. For Otsego, it's a chance to reach .500. The Redmen want to snap a nine-game skid and send the seniors out with the win at home."They understand. They know that they're playing for one thing, to send … them out the right way," Fostoria coach Derek Angelone said.Doing so won't come easily against the Knights.Otsego's run-centric offense likes to pound opponents while the defense likes to wreak havoc by switching its front from a four-man to a Bear front."Offensively, you know what you're going to get out of them. It's been that same system that (coach Craig) Rutherford's ran for a long time and been successful doing it," Angelone said. "You got to go out and stop the run and hope you've got athletes in position a couple times a game they pass it to make plays in the pass game."They present a couple different defensive fronts that we're definitely spending some time preparing for," he said. "They give us different fronts and they live in different fronts and try to present us (with) different challenges for our blocking schemes."But Angelone feels the Redmen can have success, pointing out that they played well for most of the first half last week against conference champion Genoa."We're hoping to be able to exploit some of their fronts in the run game and do some things we know we're capable of doing," he said. "Our whole plan is to run the ball to open up the pass game and hopefully knock down a couple more passes than what we did last week." Hopewell-Loudon at WoodmoreRecords: Hopewell-Loudon 8-1, 5-1; Woodmore 7-2, 4-2.Last year: Hopewell-Loudon won 57-0.Outlook: Hopewell-Loudon enters the regular-season finale with a playoff possibility many teams would envy: A win gets the Chieftains a first-round bye while a loss, at worst, has them hosting a first-round game.The Chieftains prefer a win and the first option, coach Brian Colatruglio said."We've been a little banged up and we've had some guys miss some games," he said. "We're getting closer to having everybody back, so we would love to have that extra week to get everybody healthy, get everybody back in their roles, and two weeks to prepare for an opponent."It's a motivating factor," he said.A win Friday and a little help would also help H-L gain a share of the Sandusky Bay Conference River Division title. Gibsonburg travels Friday to Margaretta, the only team to beat H-L this year. A road win by the Golden Bears would force a three-way tie for the title."We're motivated, we have a lot to play for and we want to finish the season strong," Colatruglio said.But the Chieftains must first beat Woodmore to make that happen, and the Wildcats present challenges, the biggest being running back Landon Rich.The 6-foot, 190-pounder leads all three divisions of the SBC in both rushing yards (1,844) and rushing touchdowns (30)."He's a really good player. He's a big kid, he runs tough, but he's also fast. He's got that breakaway speed," Colatruglio said. "If you looked at him, you wouldn't maybe think he's a sprinter, but he is. He's that type of player."But not the only Woodmore weapon.Calvin Lipstraw has thrown for 883 yards and 10 touchdowns, with Wesley Kayser leading the receivers with 27 catches for 459 yards and five scores.Robert Seeger (11-184, 1 TD) and Michael Seeger (10-167, 4 TDs) offer more targets in the passing game, with Jesse Lopez (189 yards, 2 TDs) helping in the ground attack."Definitely, he's the focal point," Colatruglio said of Rich, "but the big thing with them, one of the reasons they're better this year, is that they are a little more diverse. They make some plays in the passing game; they've got some other guys that can hurt you, as well."Obviously, he's their main guy, but when they need some plays, … some of their big plays come from the other guys if you overreact to what he's doing," he said. Lakota at NorthwoodRecords: Lakota 4-5, 1-5; Northwood 3-6, 1-5.Last year: Northwood won 30-17.Outlook: Lakota hits the road for Friday's regular-season finale, but the game with the newest member of the Sandusky Bay Conference River Division comes against a pretty familiar foe.The teams have met in each of the last three years in non-conference play; it would be four years, but the 2021 game was cancelled. Northwood holds a 2-1 edge over that span, with last year's game being the only one with a point differential of more than six points.Lakota coach Ryan Lozier said the Rangers have changed only a little over that period when it comes to their offense."It's the same old Northwood. They run the veer option; midline read and they've got some good, hard runners and some athletes," he said. "We'll have to play disciplined football this week and see what happens."They'll do a little bit of both. They are a little more spread than what they've been in the past, but I still think they're real dominant in wanting to run. But if you take that away, you've got to be ready for them to throw the football," he said. "We'll have our hands full again this week, but our kids are going to work hard and we'll see how we fare Friday night."Quarterback Tyler Osley keys Northwood's offense with 986 yards and nine touchdowns through the air and 425 yards and six scores on the ground.Skyler Rita leads the ground game with 648 yards and seven TDs, with Jason St. Claire adding 469 yards and four scores. DeAndre Curry (271 yards, 6 TDs) and John Sawyer (141 yards, 1 TD) also help.Sawyer (15-259, 2 TDs) and Valryic Goings (13-256, 5 TDs) offer the Rangers balance at receiver, with Rita (8-176, 1 TD) also an option.Kevin O'Donnell sparks Northwood's defense with 99 tackles, four sacks and two fumble recoveries.Ethan Leonard adds 51 tackles, and Nick Reinhart is a turnover machine, picking off three passes and recovering four fumbles.Along with looking to end the regular season at .500, the Raiders enter Week 10 on the bubble for the playoffs. They're seeded 16, with the top 12 advancing.They'll need some help to advance, the first hurdle — a win — is their responsibility."The biggest thing is, we've got to win," Lozier said. "We're not so much talking about playoffs and Week 11 as much this week as controlling what we can control and focusing on us. If we focus on us and do our jobs, we'll just let the rest play out. We're focusing, really, on Friday night, getting a win and just giving ourselves a chance. At the end of the day, that's all we can do." Bucyrus at CareyRecords: Bucyrus 1-8, 0-6; Carey 5-4, 5-1.Last year: Carey won 60-6.Outlook: Despite an 0-3 start, losing an All-Ohio running back in the first game and last week's nail-biting loss to rival Mohawk, everything Carey wanted to accomplish at the beginning of the year is still there for the taking.A home victory Friday brings the Blue Devils a winning regular season, a share of another Northern 10 Athletic Conference title (their fourth in the last five years) and a playoff berth."We're really excited for this week. We're playing for a lot," Carey coach Jonathon Mershman said. "There's a lot at stake, so we've got to come ready to go and focus. It doesn't matter who we're playing."This week, that's Bucyrus.The Redmen have struggled for most of the year — they gave unbeaten North Baltimore its toughest test of the year in the season opener (NB won 36-28), then doubled up Triad 42-21 before dropping their next seven games by lopsided scores — but they still pose challenges, Mershman said."They're going to spread it out a little bit. We're going to have to be really good on the back end," he said. "They go a little no-huddle, so we've got to speed up our defense a little bit and make sure we're ready to go in between plays because they're not going to huddle and give us time."Isaac Makeever (1,402 yards, 9 TDs) is third in the conference in passing yards.Christian Neal (42-603, 4 TDs), Wyatt Makeever (34-246, 1 TD) and Dylan Coppler (21-225, 2 TDs) are his main targets in the passing game, with DeShawn Cosey (12-188, 2 TDs) and Paten Deskins (12-145) also helping.Isaac Makeever also leads the ground game with 467 yards and seven touchdowns, with Wyatt Makeever adding 331 yards and seven scores.The Bucyrus 6-2 defense has struggled this year. The Redmen rank last in the conference against the run (249.6 yards per game), against the pass (166.7 ypg) and overall (416.2 ypg).Still, Mershman said the Redmen present challenges.Hayden Butcher (88) and Wyatt Makeever (85) each have at least 85 tackles, with Isaac Makeever (56) and Hayden Ginn (46) adding depth.Cosey has picked off four passes and Coppler had three interceptions."We haven't really seen much of that (6-2 front), we've seen a lot of 5s this year, so we're going to need to attack that a little bit differently," Mershman said. "I'm excited about the challenge they bring and the opportunity to play in Week 10." Buckeye Central at Upper SanduskyRecord: Upper Sandusky 3-6, 2-4 N10; Buckeye Central 3-6, 1-5 N10Last Year: Upper Sandusky, 42-7Outlook: While one team will be ending their season, another is hoping to have a playoff berth.Upper Sandusky was mathematically eliminated after last week's loss to Colonel Crawford 46-24."We didn't execute very well last week," USHS coach Russell Hall said. "We had a march down the field, and then we couldn't convert it. Defensively, we played well at times, but then other times, we didn't. It's stuff that we have struggled with all season long."BC is right now sitting in the 14th spot in Division VII, Region 25. Only 12 teams are going to playoffs this season, as OHSAA went from 16 teams down to 12. "If BC wins against us it will be huge for the Bucks. I fully expect them to exploit every weakness we have and perform well in all three phases of football so they can get into the playoffs," Hall said.For BC, the biggest threat it has to watch against in the game is Ethan Lewis. He has rushed 153 times this season for 700 yards, and currently is the Northern 10 Athletic Conference leader in tackles with 149."Ethan really is the heart of the team," Phillips said. "He is also their leading rusher. But Upper Sandusky also had a lot of skill and can make you pay in the passing game if you overplay the run."For the Rams there are three that will give them trouble. Jack Phillips is 71 of 135 passing for 791 yards, along with having rushed 69 times for 343 yards and can make plays out of almost anything. Alec Phillips has great hands as he is the leading receiver for the Bucks. He has carried the ball 39 times for 409 yards. The leading rusher for the Bucks is Austin Bogner, who has rushed 146 times for 437 yards and leads in tackles for the Bucks with 33.5. The final one that USHS is anticipating to give them a run on a physical defense is Lance Cole, who has 24 tackles."We know we will have our hands full," Hall said. "They are able to throw the ball and their defense is explosive." Vermilion at BellevueRecord: Bellevue 6-3, 2-1 SBC Bay; Vermilion 5-4, 1-2 SBC BayLast Year: Vermilion, 26-12Outlook: Bellevue has already been making strides this season between getting a better record, possibly clinching a share of the Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division title before going to the Ohio Athletic Conference next season, and a home playoff game. All thanks to a changing of the guard, coach Alex Shepherd.All of it comes down to a win against Vermilion.Last week, the Redmen went on the road to Port Clinton, and won 12-3."Defensively, we did what we needed to do in order to win," Shepherd said. "Offensively though, we had too many turnovers that limited our success."Shepherd has seen growth since he took over the program."They have gotten better throughout the season," said Shepherd of his team. "They have gotten better at weathering storms. They have handled adversity and play each play like it is their last."Turning their attention to this week, Bellevue is coming up against a physical team that runs the ball and plays defensively tough."We have to out-physical them." Shepherd said.The Sailors have Drake Hooks for their quarterback, who completed 10 out of 18 passes for 169 yards and one touchdown last week. Their leading rusher, Evan Kuhns, had 24 rushes for 121 yards and two touchdowns, and their leading receiver is Brock Meyers, who carried the ball five times for 119 yards and one touchdown.With the season winding down in regulation, there is something that Shepherd had to say to his seniors."Luckily, if we do what we are supposed to do, this won't be the last home game for these seniors this season." Norwalk at ClydeRecord: Clyde 3-6, 1-2 SBC Lake; Norwalk 3-6, 1-2 SBC LakeLast Year: Clyde, 34-0Outlook: To say it's been a rough season for Clyde would be an understatement.It's been a long time since it had a record of 3-6, but coach Ryan Carter has one goal in mind for the game against Norwalk.To end the season on a positive note."Our kids have continued to work hard each week," Carter said. "And to keep a positive attitude, even through everything."The Fliers faced Columbian last week, and ended up dropping it 49-20."We did not make enough plays in that second quarter," Carter said. "But you have to give them credit, they played well."Now the attention turns to Norwalk, and though the Truckers have the same record as the Fliers, Carter isn't underestimating them."Norwalk has very good runners on offense and we will need to stop the run first," Carter said. "We will need to win first down on offense and defense as they run the ball very well."The Truckers lead rusher is AJ Weilnau, as last week he rushed 35 times for 190 yards and two touchdowns. Gabe Bellamy is the second leading rusher, and he had 11 rushes for 107 yards and two touchdowns. Norwalk won last week over Sandusky 31-28.While it's been a different type of season for Carter and Flier fans, right now Clyde is in the 14th spot in Division IV, Region 14."We need to focus on playing week 10," Carter said. "That is the only chance we got."