Central Ohio football season set to get under way
Thursday, August 17, 2023
By Jarrod Ulrey
julrey@cbussports.com
Pickerington North’s Sam Williams-Dixon looks for running room during the Panthers scrimmage game at Canal Winchester on Aug. 10. Photo: John Hulkenberg
The 2022 season proved to be the end of a long wait for the Gahanna Lincoln football team.
During the first eight seasons of Bruce Ward’s tenure as coach, the Lions reached seven wins four times but never surpassed that mark, and they were .500 or worse during the other four seasons.
Gahanna had gone just 9-16 all-time during the playoffs heading into last fall, with its only appearances at the state level coming in 1976 when it was the Class AAA runner-up and in 1982 when it was a Division I semifinalist.
Still, getting to a state semifinal for the first time in 40 years as the Lions did last fall was something Ward and his players always believed was within their grasp.
“The biggest part of it is our kids were close,” Ward said. “They cared about one another. They played for one another and they didn’t want to let each other down. That group had been tight since they were in youth league. Sometimes tightness and closeness can carry you through tough games.”
Trying to recapture the intangibles that helped the Lions finish 13-2 are at the top of their wish list this fall.
Gahanna returns just one defensive starter in lineman Elijah King but has been boosted by a slew of talented additions that includes former Westerville South standout linebacker Quan Rhodes-McKee. The Lions will be anchored offensively by senior running back Diore Hubbard, junior quarterback Brennen Ward and senior linemen Evan Dailey and Jake Grimm.
While King is a Rutgers commit, Hubbard will play for West Virginia and Dailey and Grimm are pledged to play for Temple and Toledo, respectively.
Hubbard is coming off a season in which he rushed for 2,365 yards and 25 touchdowns and was a Mr. Football Finalist.
“I feel like we should win the (OCC-Ohio Division) first and progressively win more and then make it back to state,” King said. “I feel like this team is really coming together. Last year, I feel like we wanted it more than anybody else. It was time for us because it had been a really long time since we’d (made it to state).”
Teams throughout central Ohio are trying to create a similar type of “bonding,” as Ward calls it, so that they can be the next to celebrate a breakout season.
Diore Hubbard gets the handoff from Brennen Ward during a recent Gahanna Lincoln football scrimmage. The Lions were Division I state semifinalists a year ago. Photo: Jarrod Ulrey
Chasing the Lions
One of the signs that Gahanna was on to something special last fall took place when it beat Pickerington Central 22-20 in Week 5 for its first win over the Tigers since 2001.
The Lions also navigated through a challenging OCC-Ohio Division that included New Albany, which they went on to beat 25-17 for the Region 3 championship, as well as Grove City and Pickerington North.
The Eagles lost a large senior class following a 10-4 finish and will lean on senior Braylen Nash, who is expected to be the full-time quarterback after splitting time at that position last year.
Central has a new coach in long-time assistant Jeff Lomonico after Jay Sharrett retired following a 20-year tenure that included posting a 211-42 record with 17 league titles, eight regional titles and Division I state championships in 2017 and ’19.
The Tigers figure to be stout up front as usual with the return of senior offensive lineman Justin Terry, a West Virginia commit, and also return one of their top athletes from a year ago in senior Terrance Alexander along with a talented senior tight end in Tayvion Galloway.
North has won at least one playoff game in four of coach Nate Hillerich’s six seasons but is coming off a 7-5 finish that included two losses to Central and one to Gahanna.
In the offseason, the Panthers added senior running back Sam Williams-Dixon, an Ohio State commit who scored 41 touchdowns last season for Millersburg West Holmes.
He joins an experienced cast that features senior quarterback Landon O’Connell, senior defensive lineman and Illinois-commit Angelo McCullom and senior wide receiver Preston Bowman.
O’Connell believes some players in the program “were playing for stats and not for wins” a year ago, but he’s seen a big change in that area throughout the offseason.
“We’re just waiting to get over the hump,” Hillerich said. “We’ve been good and sometimes we’ve been really good. We’re excited for where our program is (in grades) 7-12 and this group is hungry to take the next step. You had two (OCC-Ohio) teams in the regional finals, along with Grove City who was in the playoffs, and Westerville Central won a playoff game. There’s no weeks off.”
Outside of that group in Region 3, Upper Arlington went 10-3 and returns several starters on both sides of the ball, Grove City returns senior quarterback Matthew Papas after going 6-5, Thomas Worthington went 6-5 to post its first winning record since 1998 and Westerville North is looking to rebuild under new coach Stanley Jackson.
Hilliard Bradley, Hilliard Darby and Hilliard Davidson are looking to improve after middling seasons.
In Region 2, Olentangy Liberty has a new coach in John Sansbury after going 8-6 and earning a runner-up finish.
Dublin Jerome is coming off a 9-3 finish and Delaware Hayes, Dublin Coffman, Marysville and Olentangy Berlin also posted winning records.
Olentangy, which features senior quarterback and Penn State-commit Ethan Grunkemeyer at quarterback, and Olentangy Orange figure to be improved after going 4-7.
Garrett Stover (left) and Nate Severs were first-team all-state honorees in Division II last season for Big Walnut. Photo: Jarrod Ulrey
In with the new
In addition to Liberty, Pickerington Central and Westerville North, there were 18 other Central District programs that changed coaches in the offseason.
Five of those moves took place in the City League, where Centennial (Brandon Fort), Marion-Franklin (Charles Gibson), Mifflin (Anthony Thornton), West (Eric Robinson) and Whetstone (Ollie Hightower) all have new leadership. Gibson was West’s coach last season and Thornton is returning to coach the Punchers after previously heading the program from 2015-20.
Columbus East shared the City-North last season with Beechcroft and Northland, and fourth-year Vikings coach Ryan Sayers sees a similar tight battle between that trio this fall.
The Tigers had made only two previous playoff appearances before going 10-2 last fall and return one of the area’s top running backs in junior Taizaun Burns.
Northland has back senior running back Amir Brown and Beechcroft features senior quarterback Aurelius Scott.
“This is a year where there’s athletes on every team (in the City),” Sayers said. “It’s going to come down to the kids who play the hardest together.”
Independence, Marion-Franklin and Columbus South shared the City-South championship last season. While the Bulldogs have a new quarterback in senior Dashawn Simmons, the Red Devils have one of the best athletes in the City as well in senior running back and linebacker Tito Glass.
Big Walnut, which went 12-1 in 2021 and 10-3 a year ago, has a new coach in Curtis Crager as it looks to again make a long playoff run in Division II, Region 7.
Dublin Scioto, which also resides in Region 7, has a new coach in Alex Place after Karl Johnson was its head coach for 23 seasons.
Among the few area teams to switch divisions this fall are Worthington Christian and Newark Catholic.
Worthington Christian is coming off an 8-4 finish and has moved up from Division VI to compete in Division V, Region 23 while Newark Catholic was a Division VII state semifinalist but is now in Region 23.
Worthington Christian is a member of the new Central Buckeye League along with Bexley, Buckeye Valley, Columbus Academy, Grandview, Ready and Whitehall, but both Worthington Christian and Grandview are playing independent schedules.
“Starting this season, the new Central Buckeye League allows us to gain experiences that we did not have in the past,” said first-year Ready coach T.J. Burbridge, whose program had been a member of the CCL since 1960 and had been an auxiliary member of the MSL-Ohio Division since 2017.
Kasen Abbott of Ready prepares for a play against visiting East during a scrimmage Aug. 5, 2023. (photo by John Hulkenberg)
Shooting for the top
Bloom-Carroll put together central Ohio’s best postseason run a year ago, surviving a 33-28 challenge to beat Watterson for the Division III, Region 11 championship and going on to earn a state runner-up finish and 14-2 record.
Senior running back Dylan Armentrout and senior two-way lineman Jaden Ball lead the way for the Bulldogs.
“We have to fill the shoes of a very talented and successful senior class, but our expectations have not changed,” coach Jeremy McKinney said. “Our schedule and our region include very talented, tradition-rich programs.”
Granville, which is coming off a 9-3 finish, also should factor into the Region 11 race.
Joining East and Ready as expected contenders in Division IV, Region 15 is Hartley, which went 5-7 with a young roster and returns one of the area’s top sophomores in running back Robert Lathon.
Bloom-Carroll opens against Harvest Prep, which went 13-1 and was the Division V, Region 19 runner-up a year ago.
Harvest Prep, which is now competing as an independent after the breakup of the MSL-Ohio, returns a cast that includes senior linebacker Marchello Cox and senior quarterback and defensive lineman E.J. Pierce.
“This season will be tough,” Harvest Prep coach Milan Smith said. “Our schedule is impossible and there aren’t any real weeks off.”
In Region 7, Big Walnut and Westerville South both reached the semifinal round and Canal Winchester, DeSales and Watkins Memorial each won one playoff game.
“We’ve got great kids that are working hard, just learning a new system both offensively and defensively,” Crager said. “We have to make sure we’re firing on all cylinders right away.”
Central Ohio will be guaranteed to have one team in a state semifinal in Division I from Region 3.
In Division I, Region 2, eight of the 17 teams are from the Central District.
“Central Ohio has good football right now,” coach Ward said. “We have a collection of good teams that beat up each other week in and week out. Cincinnati and Cleveland have some special teams, and I’m biased, but I think we have the majority of them.”