The first Friday night of the 2024 Ohio high school football season brought some memorable performances. That was especially the case with the Week 1 games we covered. Our staff saw Harvest Prep defeat Pickerington Central 24-21, Groveport defeat Hilliard Bradley 28-7, and Pickerington North fall to Lakewood St. Edward 28-0.
Here are the insights from these games.
Harvest Prep’s Boff stays calm in his first varsity start
Drenched in sweat and seemingly still feeling a rush of adrenaline, Harvest Prep sophomore quarterback Collin Boff took a deep breath and thought about the energy that carried the Division V Warriors — a 2023 state championship semifinalist — to victory in their first game at the new Division I Central stadium.
Boff described the much-needed inspiration he received from coach Milan Smith when the Warriors trailed 21-18 with 4:24 left.
“I was praying and didn’t know what to do,” said Boff, who came from Hilliard Darby. “Coach Smith pulled me in and calmed me down. The pressure was on and I wanted a touchdown. We stuck with it and had a good drive.”
The drive went 71 yards in half a dozen plays and was capped by Boff’s 28-yard pass to Jamarcus Jones, making the game 24-21.
Two consecutive penalties against the Tigers – a personal foul and unsportsmanlike conduct – pushed the Warriors into Central territory.
Boff threw for 157 yards and completed 13 of 26 passes.
“He went out there and made some mistakes, stuck with it, made some mistakes, stuck with it. He never lost confidence, he never lost faith,” Smith said. “This will probably be the worst game you’ll ever see from him. If you watch, he’ll go down as one of the better quarterbacks in the history of this state.”
The Warriors also showed a strong running game: The 6’2″ and 220lb junior Dezmond Porter managed 161 yards and touchdowns of 5, 65 and 52 yards on 19 attempts.
In the first half he managed 106 yards.
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Pickerington Central can’t keep the momentum
With 35 seconds left, the Tigers had a chance to tie the game, but Carson Goulet missed a 42-yard field goal.
However, central coach Jeff Lomonico focused more on the dynamics on both sides of the ball.
“We have to keep moving the ball better, and that’s my mistake,” he said. “Defensively, we can’t make three good plays, get a penalty and leave someone unprotected.”
Central used explosive plays to take a 14-12 lead into halftime. Kaejuan Alexander and Gerald Banks scored touchdowns of 66 and 63 yards, respectively.
Alexander’s 1-yard run gave the Tigers a 21-18 lead with 4:24 left, capping a 10-play, 73-yard drive.
“I don’t think it was a question of effort for us,” Lomonico said. “I need to better understand what we have and make adjustments based on that.”
–Scott Gerfen
Groveport Madison football team celebrates victory over Hilliard Bradley
Groveport Madison defeated Hilliard Bradley, last year’s Region 3 champion, 28-7 at home at Cruiser Stadium in the first week of high school football.
Groveport impresses on opening night
After a 6-5 season and the return of several key players, Groveport coach Mitch Westcamp heard about his team’s potential during the offseason.
However, Westcamp wanted to see his team play a regular season game before allowing himself to get into any hype.
The Cruisers finally impressed their coach with a strong performance against the visiting team Bradley.
“I’ve been told all summer by everyone in the program how good this team is, but I don’t know,” Westcamp said. “You don’t know until you play the game in Week 1. We played a really good opponent tonight. (Bradley) won (Division I, Region 3) last year.”
First week results from Ohio
Groveport impressed on both sides of the ball in the first half and led 22-0 at halftime.
Raishad King led a balanced ground attack for the Cruisers, rushing for 92 yards and scoring a touchdown on 14 carries.
Groveport has two of the best defensive players in Central Ohio in seniors Keishaun Calhoun and Jalen Joyce.
“We have a lot of experience on defense and a running back who I think is one of the best,” Westcamp said. “A lot of people don’t talk about him. Raishad King is one of the best in the area.”
Groveport and Hilliard Bradley: Second-year quarterbacks in direct comparison
The game featured two second-year starting quarterbacks: Baker Bowden of Groveport and Declan O’Neil of Bradley.
Bowden, who started as a freshman, continues to impress Westcamp.
“We believe there are three incredible sophomore quarterbacks in Central Ohio with our kid, the Bradley kid and the Thomas Worthington kid (Grey Kegley), and two of them gave it their all tonight,” Westcamp said. “We need to improve on some things in the passing game. We had some drops. It’s there, we just need to hit them.”
O’Neil, who replaced an injured Bradyn Fleharty in last season’s 26-3 Division I semifinal loss to St. Edward, threw for 145 yards and a touchdown on Friday. Fleharty now plays at Yale.
“Declan is pretty solid,” Bradley coach Mike LoParo said. “He missed a lot tonight. He’ll want to watch this film. They had great guards, a good back line and their defensive line was very good.”
Hilliard Bradley needs to make adjustments
After appearing in the state championship semifinals, Bradley enters the season with high expectations, but LoParo knows his team may need some time to adjust to several new players on the roster.
“I told them to keep going, keep practicing, keep learning and keep getting better,” LoParo said. “Our goal is to play our best football in the future.”
Bradley had numerous scoring opportunities in the first three quarters, but was unable to capitalize on them.
“We didn’t finish plays,” LoParo said. “We dropped a few balls tonight. We missed a few shots tonight. We didn’t block well at times.”
–Frank DiRenna
Things are not going well for Pickerington North
It couldn’t have been a worse night for the host Panthers against the three-time defending Division I champions: They had to punt each of their first ten possessions and managed just six first downs.
North’s defense shined at times with four interceptions – two of them by senior cornerback Tyson Long, a three-star recruit with 16 offers – but struggled to contain St. Edward’s deep offense, which covered 193 of its 345 yards through the air.
“We just couldn’t get anything going — and you have to give them credit for that, they have one of the best defenses in the state — but we were punishing ourselves with penalties,” Panthers coach Nate Hillerich said. “We were never able to gain momentum (or) turn over field position.”
A’mare Miller and RJ Washington Jr. also intercepted passes from otherwise solid St. Edward quarterback Thomas Csanyi. Csanyi completed 11 of 21 passes, splitting his three touchdown passes to as many receivers and completing five in the entire game.
“Our defensive backs made some great plays,” Hillerich said. “But (St. Edward) had a deflected ball for a touchdown and they made a fade on fourth-and-8 for another. Two plays that were great and just changed the momentum.”
North had two plays of 10 yards, both 19-yard passes by Jarin Mock.
Numerous playmakers for Lakewood St. Edward
Although Brandon White, an all-state running back with 1,900 yards, again anchored St. Edwards’ running game as a junior, the Eagles’ passing game took center stage starting in the second quarter.
White was a factor as St. Edward ran 24 of the game’s first 27 plays, but Csanyi’s 39-yard touchdown pass to Zach Hackleman and a 31-yard pass to Joe Saffold to cap the next drive essentially set the tone.
“I talk about supplemental football all the time,” St. Edwards coach Tom Lombardo said. “Our defense and special teams played very well, although it took a little while for our offense to get going. (Our receivers) are not only talented, they’re smart. They understand coverage and know how to create space.”
White finished the game with 88 yards and a score on 22 carries.
Penalties hurt Pickerington North
Hillerich lamented North’s nine penalties for 84 yards, including two for defensive holding and five illegal procedures, some of which negated big passing plays and reduced the yardage total of running back Michael Taylor, an Ohio University product who was limited to 48 yards on 16 carries.
The Panthers have never led a game past midfield.
“We need to stop the pre-snap penalties,” Hillerich said. “Too many illegal practices and holds that put us in first-and-20. You just can’t win games like that.”
–Dave Purpura
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