Central Ohio High School Stories

Olentangy wins first OHSAA baseball title
Sunday, June 15, 2025
Staff Reports

The Olentangy Braves scored twice in the first inning and their pitchers made the runs hold up as the Braves topped Springboro, 2-1, Sunday at Canal Park in Akron to win their first baseball state title in the school’s history. [More]

OHSAA announces changes to football playoffs
Thursday, June 12, 2025
Staff Reports

The OHSAA Board of Directors has announced several significant changes to their football playoff regulations. The number of qualifiers per region will be 12 instead of 16, with the top four seeds in each region earning a first-round bye. Also, the first three rounds of the postseason will be hosted by the higher-seeded team instead of the first two rounds. [More]

Eagles fly past Wooster for first boys lacrosse title
Sunday, June 8, 2025
Staff Reports

Both the Bishop Watterson Eagles and the Wooster Generals were first-timers in the boys lacrosse championship game Sunday at Historic Crew Stadium. The Eagles came into the contest with six losses this season, half of them to Division I teams. Wooster had only two losses on their sheet before Sunday. [More]

CBUS-area track and field athletes shine at state meet
Saturday, June 7, 2025
Staff Reports

The OHSAA state track and field meet has ended at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the Ohio State campus. A good number of local teams and athletes had impressive performances that put them atop the podium as one of the top eight in the state. [More]

Olentangy Liberty, DeSales win girls lacrosse titles
Saturday, June 7, 2025
Staff Reports

The Olentangy Liberty and Upper Arlington girls lacrosse teams know each other well. Besides regular season match-ups, they have played each other the last three years in the OHSAA state finals. UA won the title in 2023, while the Patriots grabbed the championship last season. [More]

Three area baseball teams head to state tourney
Thursday, June 5, 2025
Staff Reports

The OHSAA baseball regional finals have been decided for all CBUS-area teams and three – Olentangy, New Albany, and Newark Catholic – are on their way to the state tournament to be played at Canton’s Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium and Akron’s Canal Park next week. [More]

CBUS Area dominates OHSAA state tennis tourney
Monday, June 2, 2025
Staff Reports

Last Friday was a good day for local high school boys’ tennis teams. Central Ohio captured three of the four boys’ tennis titles in Wooster. In Division II singles play, Columbus Academy junior Nason Lo beat Alex Neely, a Gates Mills Hawken senior, in two quick sets, 6-0, 6-0, to win the championship. [More]

OHSAA state lacrosse tournaments set
Sunday, June 1, 2025
Staff Reports

The CBUS-area has at least one team in each of the Division I and II, girls and boys state lacrosse brackets to be played this upcoming week. The semi-finals will be played at neutral sites Tuesday and Wednesday with the finals to be held Saturday and Sunday at Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus. [More]

CBUS-area sending three softball teams to OHSAA state tourney
Saturday, May 31, 2025
Staff Reports

Because of the rain Friday, the local softball regional finals were moved from Friday evening to Saturday at noon. After the dust settled in the middle afternoon, three area teams had earned the right to play in this year’s OHSAA state tournament in Akron – Lancaster (DI), Mount Vernon (DII), and Liberty Union (DV). [More]

Central District baseball brackets announced
Sunday, May 11, 2025
Staff Reports

The OHSAA Central District baseball brackets were announced after Sunday’s statewide tournament draw. This season’s tourney will feature seven divisions for the first time. The state finals will be played at Canal Park in Akron. Because of the additional divisions, some of the semi-final games will be played at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium in Canton. [More]

OHSAA reveals 2025 football divisions and regions
Thursday, May 1, 2025
Staff Reports

The Ohio High School Athletic Association has announced the new divisional breakdowns and playoff regions for 2025 football season. Twelve schools moved up a division due to the OHSAA’s competitive balance process that analyzes data from roster information provided by each school from the previous season. [More]

OHSAA basketball will return to traditional Final Four
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Staff Reports

Next March, the Ohio High School Athletic Association girls and boys basketball state tournaments will return to the traditional format of the Final Four, with all state semifinalists converging in the same area in one weekend for the state tournament. [More]

OHSAA announces more fall tourney divisions
Monday, April 28, 2025
Staff Reports

The Ohio High School Athletic Association has announced the new divisional breakdowns for the upcoming fall sports of golf, girls tennis, soccer and girls volleyball. The divisions and regional assignments for football will be announced on Thursday. The divisions for cross country were announced previously. [More]

Olentangy Orange shoots past Reynoldsburg in title game
Saturday, March 22, 2025
By Kevin Rouch

It was a much-awaited game. Because the OHSAA added three divisions to the four that had existed the year before, there was now a chance in Division I that there would be two teams from Central Ohio that could compete for a state championship in the 102-year history of tournament play in the Buckeye State. [More]

Columbus Academy battles but comes up short against Lutheran East
Saturday, March 22, 2025
By Kevin Rouch

The Columbus Academy Vikings (28-1) came into Saturday’s OHSAA state title game in Dayton knowing that they had a tough task against two-time defending state champion Lutheran East (26-4). The Falcons have been in the final four the last seven times that the state tournament has been held, winning the crown four times. [More]

Westerville North takes Perry to “deep water”, wins state title
Friday, March 21, 2025
By Kevin Rouch

Westerville North (24-2) started their state championship game with a 10-0 run against the Cinderella Massillon Perry Panthers (14-13) Friday at University of Dayton Arena. It never got better than that for the Panthers who committed eight turnovers in the first quarter against relentless full-court pressure from the Warriors. North came away with a 78-46 victory. [More]

Four local teams will vie for state basketball titles
Sunday, March 16, 2025
Staff Reports

All four CBUS-area teams that qualified for this season’s boys basketball final four – Olentangy Orange, Reynoldsburg, Westerville North, and Columbus Academy – won their state semi-final games this weekend and will play for OHSAA titles next Friday and Saturday. [More]

Pickerington Central rallies for eighth state title
Saturday, March 15, 2025
Staff Reports

The Pickerington Central girls basketball team led Cincinnati Princeton 23-17 at the end of the first half of their OHSAA Division I state final at University of Dayton Arena Saturday despite the fact that five Tigers had two fouls before the break. [More]

Commentary: The busiest two weeks of the high school sports year
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
By Kevin Rouch

This past weekend, winter-season high school athletes, and the media following them, completed the most harried two weeks of the year. Finals were held in gymnastics, hockey, wrestling, and bowling, as well as advanced tournament games in girls and boys basketball. [More]

Upper Arlington captures first state hockey title
Sunday, March 9, 2025
Staff Reports

The Upper Arlington Golden Bears became the second CBUS-area team to win the OHSAA state hockey championship with a 5-2 win over St. Ignatius Sunday at Nationwide Arena. It was only two years ago that Olentangy Liberty was the first Central Ohio squad to take the crown, beating University School 6-2. [More]

Olentangy Orange, Watterson take down state wrestling crowns
Sunday, March 9, 2025
Staff Reports

The OHSAA hosted its championship round for both girls and boys Sunday evening at Value City Arena on the Ohio State University campus. Olentangy Orange won its second consecutive girls state title. Bishop Watterson won its first Division II state boys championship, while DeSales finished second in boys Division I. [More]

Pickerington Central will play Cincinnati Princeton in title game
Sunday, March 9, 2025
Staff Reports

The Pickerington Central Tigers are going to the OHSAA state title game next weekend after downing Rocky River Magnificat 49-41 in overtime at Mansfield Senior High School Sunday. The Tigers trailed 23-15 at the half, but rebounded with an intense defensive effort to force an extra period and grab the win. [More]

Four local basketball teams headed to state tourney
Sunday, March 9, 2025
Staff Reports

This year’s OHSAA boys basketball regional finals were all completed by Sunday evening. Going to the final four at the University of Dayton over the next two weeks are: Olentangy Orange (DI), Reynoldsburg (DI), Westerville North (DII), and Columbus Academy (DV). [More]

Boys district champions are crowned, headed to regionals
Sunday, March 2, 2025
Staff Reports

After Sunday’s boys basketball action, all of the district champions have been determined for this year’s OHSAA tournament and the regional semi-finals have been scheduled for the upcoming week. Here are the 20 Central Ohio champions in all seven divisions and where they’re headed. [More]

Three CBUS-area teams move on to state final four
Saturday, March 1, 2025
Staff Reports

All of the OHSAA regional girls basketball games have been played this season and the teams going to the final four have been determined. Three squads will represent Central Ohio at the final stage of the tournament. [More]