COLUMBUS — Week 1 of the 2024 high school football season is officially in the books.
Just because it was early didn’t mean there weren’t any fireworks.
Let’s take a look at some of the top performances from all around the state — with this week’s Ohio Prep Sports Media High School Football Notebook.
* Portsmouth senior Chase Heiland rushed for 116 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries in the Trojans’ 15-12 win at Lucasville Valley on Thursday night. In the 2023 opener for the Trojans against Valley, Heiland had 258 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 25 attempts. Portsmouth and Valley, sans the COVID-19 impacted season of 2020, have opened their seasons every year since 2012 by playing on a Thursday night. The Trojans’ 2024 win was their eighth consecutive in the series, as the 27 points was the lowest combined point total in those dozen meetings.
* The Fairland Dragons’ 34-0 defeat of Portsmouth West on Friday night featured a three-headed monster of sorts. Quarterback Ethan Wall, in making his first varsity start, was 15-of-19 passing for 214 yards and three touchdowns. Jack Hayden’s two receptions resulted in touchdowns of six and 36 yards, as Hayden also rushed for a 20-yard score —with all three touchdowns coming in the second quarter. Keegan Smith scored the Dragons’ other two TDs —a 48-yard reception only a minute and four seconds into the game and a 51-yard interception return with 20 seconds left in the third quarter. It was Fairland’s fourth win in a row over West, as the first three meetings were decided by a combined five points — with the 2023 victory coming on the game’s final play.
* The Franklin Furnace Green Bobcats defeated the Federal Hocking Lancers 42-0 on Friday night, as legendary Larry Hall made his head coaching debut for the Bobcats. Hall has been involved in coaching football for over 50 years, as 2024 marks his 20th season as a head coach. He was last a head coach for one season at Sciotoville East in 2008, leading the Tartans to the Southern Ohio Conference Division I championship that year. He followed the legendary Ed Miller at Wheelersburg in the 1990s, winning 64 games, seven SOC II championships and making six state playoff appearances in his seven seasons there. He also coached at Preble Shawnee in the early 1970s for four years, at Ashland in Kentucky for four years following his seven at Wheelersburg, and at McDermott Northwest from 2003 thru 2005. He spent the 2009 thru 2023 seasons assisting his son Andy Hall at Jackson, serving as the Ironmen’s defensive coordinator. Hall’s head coaching record is now 127-75-4.
* Ironton senior Shaun Terry terrorized the host Wheelersburg Pirates on Friday night. That’s because Terry, the returning Southeast District Division V Offensive Player of the Year and University of Missouri commit, scored three touchdowns and 20 total points —as Ironton scored the final 30 points in the Fighting Tigers’ 37-7 victory. Terry began the game with an interception on defense on the third play from scrimmage, then proceeded to score three offensive touchdowns —a 50-yard reception, a 32-yard run and a 43-yard reception. All three TDs came in a span of 18 minutes of game time. Terry also caught a two-point conversion pass on the Fighting Tigers’ final score —a 63-yard punt return by sophomore Kayden Edwards. Terry, a wide receiver, caught seven passes for 128 yards —as Ironton won its fifth straight regular-season matchup against archrival Wheelersburg. The two storied and tradition-rich Southeast District programs play every season opener, and are just 22 miles apart. Ironton owns now 745 all-time program wins, while Wheelersburg has won exactly 600 all-time games.
* Portsmouth Notre Dame junior Bryce McGraw, making his debut as the Titans’ starting quarterback, completed 15-of-23 passes for 288 yards and six touchdowns and rushed for 119 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries in the Titans’ 60-48 season-opening victory over visiting Fairfield Christian Academy on Saturday. His 407-yard effort, accounting for seven Titan touchdowns and two two-point conversion runs, resulted in a passer rating of 147.73.
* The Federal Hocking Lancers played their first football game on Friday night since an 0-8 campaign in 2021 —a 42-0 loss at Franklin Furnace Green.
* Waterford’s Hayden Jones scored four rushing touchdowns in the Wildcats’ 40-0 victory at Albany Alexander.
* Coldwater honored senior center Cale Wenning, who died on Thursday (Aug. 22) from injuries suffered in a bicycle accident before Friday’s 38-0 victory over Valley View. Fans on both sides wore orange and black — as did student sections from other Midwest Athletic Conference and Grand Lake area schools — and Coldwater took to the field with a flag bearing Wenning’s jersey number 70. Wenning, also a standout pitcher in baseball, was an Honorable Mention all-Ohio selection last season.
* Marion Local extended the nation’s longest active winning streak to 49 with a 45-6 win at Linton-Stockton High School in Indiana, a four-plus hour bus drive from Maria Stein. Justin Knouff passed for three first-half touchdowns and the Flyers forced three interceptions and had a fumble recovery as the game was 35-0 at halftime to trigger the Indiana High School Athletic Association’s running clock rule with the 35-point lead margin.
* Hillsboro senior Dom Smart — who missed all of 2023 with a knee injury — had 10 carries for 105 yards and one touchdown, including an 80-yard touchdown run in a 42-39 last-second loss to the host Western Brown Broncos in Week 1. Hillsboro junior Jeven Hochstuhl played a balanced game, totaling six carries for 87 yards and two rushing touchdowns, plus he had one reception for a 94-yard touchdown.
*Western Brown senior quarterback Brady Sutton was 25-of-36 for 264 yards passing with three touchdowns and two interceptions, plus he had 24 carries for 167 yards rushing with one touchdown, in a 42-39 Week 1 home win versus Hillsboro. Western Brown junior Justin Morgan had 33 carries for 197 yards and two touchdowns. WBHS senior Lucas Powell finished with 10 receptions for 118 yards, including a 50-yard reception.
* Coach Tiger LaVerde won his 250th career game (and 230th game at Kirtland) with a 55-34 win over Dalton in a game that pitted the defending Division VI state champion Hornets against the reigning Division VII state runner-up Bulldogs. Including a 20-10 record as head coach at Franklin, Pa., to start his coaching career, LaVerde’s overall career record is 250-30 (.893), meaning LaVerde could go 0-10 for 22 straight seasons and still have a .500 career winning percentage. At Kirtland, he is 230-20 (.920) with seven state championships and five state runner-up finishes in 19 seasons. Highlighting his father’s 250th career win was his son, quarterback Jack LaVerde (who is 30-2 as the team’s quarterback). He carried 16 times for 341 yards and three scores in the win over Dalton.
* Hamilton Badin’s 38-game regular-season winning streak came to a halt on Saturday night with a 15-0 loss to Hamilton.The Rams had been tied with Marion Local for the longest active regular-season winning streak in Ohio.
