COLUMBUS – Welcome to the midway point of the 2024 high school football season.

Week 5 sure did produce some incredible performances, as Ohio football players start to hit their midseason stride.

Let’s take a look at some of the best of the best.

* Pike Eastern senior receiver Tucker Leist had back-to-back huge weeks for his team. In the 70-0 win over Fayetteville on Sept. 13, Leist had four receptions for 137 yards and four touchdowns. This past week in the come-from behind 27-21 win at Southern, Leist secured nine receptions for 174 yards and all four of Eastern’s touchdowns, including the game-winner. Combined, Leist has 13 catches for 311 yards and eight touchdowns over a two-week span. That works out to be an average of 23-plus yards per reception.

*McDermott Northwest senior Carter Runyon rushed for 131 yards and three touchdowns on 11 carries, and fellow senior Colton Campbell rushed for 128 yards and one touchdown on 15 totes, in the Mohawks’ 35-14 Southern Ohio Conference Division II win at Minford on Friday night. The Mohawks attempted just two passes, and Runyon made the lone reception for 13 yards.

* Portsmouth senior running back Chase Heiland rushed for 173 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries, and senior quarterback J.T. Williams rushed for 132 yards and three touchdowns on 11 attempts, in the Trojans’ 34-0 Ohio Valley Conference win at Coal Grove on Friday night. Heiland has rushed for at least 111 yards and two touchdowns in each of the Trojans’ five games this season.

* Portsmouth West sophomore Anthony Bishop amassed 260 rushing yards and four touchdowns on a massive 39 carries, and scored the game-winning touchdown with 38 seconds remaining, in the Senators’ 35-28 Southern Ohio Conference Division II victory over Waverly on Friday night. In fact, in each half, Bishop rushed for exactly 130 yards (16 1st-half carries and 23 2nd-half carries). There were four ties (7-7, 14-14, 21-21 and 28-28) along with three lead changes, with West winning with Bishop’s 24-yard touchdown run. Mason Pollard had all four of the Tigers’ touchdowns —on two short runs and two receptions of 28 and 36 yards from quarterback Mason Kelly. West defeated Waverly for the third consecutive season.

* The Hillsboro Indians were led by senior Ryan Burns, who on seven carries rushed for 124 yards with two touchdowns, averaging 17.7 yards per carry in Hillsboro’s 65-0 win over the East Clinton Astros at Richards Memorial Field. Junior teammate Jeven Hochstuhl finished with four carries for 89 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 22.2 yards per carry as Hillsboro totaled 468 yards of total offense, including 395 yards rushing.

* Waterford defensive lineman Jacob Burke’s pick six in the final three minutes lifted Waterford to a 12-6 non-league victory over Nelsonville-York.

* Hamilton Ross senior Emory Severance ran 21 times for 211 yards and three touchdowns as the Rams beat Jackson 28-21 on Friday night.

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The Ohio Prep Sports Media Association is an organization of 233 high school sports media members from all over the state. This list is compiled by those members.