Prep football roundup gets down to business
Belmont, Fairmont hope to build on opening-week victories.
Belmont and Fairmont have earned the Week 2 spotlight for landing unexpected seasonopening wins last week.
Belmont and Fairmont have earned the Week 2 high school football spotlight for landing unexpected season-opening wins last week. Belmont blitzed Dunbar 42-0 and Fairmont edged Alter 13-12.
Now, the goal is to build on that success. Belmont steps out of its City League comfort zone at Fenwick (1-0) today and Fairmont hosts Hamilton (0-1).
Longtime former Franklin coach John Aregood was lured out of retirement to coach at Fenwick after Joe Snively unexpectedly resigned after three seasons. Fenwick overcame a 21-0 deficit at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy to win 35-27 last week in his Falcons debut.
Belmont running back Elijah Malcolm had four touchdowns to key Belmont’s double wing-T offense.
“It’s a really hard offense to stop, and they’ve got the speed and power to run it,” Aregood said. “They may snap it to the up back, they might snap it to the quarterback. It’s hard for defenses to find the ball.”
It will be Belmont’s only regular-season away game. All others are at Welcome Stadium.
Fairmont must overcome an obstacle in addition to Hamilton.
“It’s been really tough,” Fairmont coach Dave Miller said about the response after beating Alter. “People keep wanting to talk about it. As long as the kids understand that they have business they need to attend to, we’ll be OK.”
The Midwest Athletic Conference nearly pulled off an opening sweep last week. Of the MAC’s 10 teams, only Parkway lost.
All MAC teams play a final nonconference Week 2 game, then launch into an eightweek MAC schedule.
Coldwater has the most daunting Week 2 challenge at Clinton-Massie (1-0). The programs are well-established as medium-size state powers.
Coldwater, led by coach Chip Otten, has won six state championships and has played for championships in nine of the last 10 seasons.
Massie, near Clarksville in Clinton County, won consecutive state championships in 2012-13. The Falcons, who rejoined the Southern Buckeye Conference this season, are guided by veteran coach Dan McSurley.
Next season Coldwater will host Massie in Week 2.
Five other MAC teams also will venture this way for Week 2 games, including Fort Recovery at Valley View (1-0).
Recovery, which won a D-VII state title in 2015, defeated Lehman Catholic 27-21 in overtime last week. Valley View defeated Wilmington 52-31 in a shootout and appears to have the makings of another great team after the debut of head coach Bob Skidmore during last season’s 10-2 run.
Covington (0-1) had a 12-game regular-season unbeaten streak snapped 37-7 by St. Henry. This week the Buccs host Minster. Other MAC matchups with area teams are St. Henry at Eaton (1-0) and New Bremen at Mississinawa Valley (0-1).
It doesn’t get any better than a Marion Local at Coldwater Week 3 MAC opener. The rivals have combined for nine state titles since 2011, but are lumped in D-VI, Region 24 this season. Coldwater moved down a division as a result of the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s competitive balance formula that’s being used for the first time this school year.
Barring upsets, the teams are likely to meet again at a neutral site in a regional final. Coldwater and Marion Local have combined to sweep every MAC title with the other placing runner-up since 2012.
Senior quarterback Brian Erbe guided Oakwood to an unlikely 42-41 victory at Cincinnati Mariemont last week. And he did it like the midseason sensation he was last season.
Erbe completed 20 of 27 passes for 359 yards and two scores. He hit Brendan Talarczyk twice along the sideline, including a 10-yard touchdown pass with 31.4 seconds left. Josh Amongero ran for the winning twopoint conversion, setting off a Lumberjacks celebration.
That was fitting. Last year Mariemont stunned host Oakwood by also scoring late and running for winning extra points in a 30-29 vic- tory against the Lumberjacks.
Last season Oakwood revamped its offense in midseason. Erbe passed for 1,744 yards and 18 touchdowns in games from weeks 5 through 9.
Oakwood hosts Milton-Union (0-1) in a Southwestern Buckeye League crossover contest today. Talarczyk will join former Oakwood standout Michael Hoecht, a defensive tackle, at Brown University next season.
Middletown coach Lance Engleka has an extra personal interest when the Middies (0-1) host Springboro (0-1) today.
Engleka’s son, Cam, is a starting senior safety at Springboro and had two solo tackles and six assists in last week’s 31-21 loss to Mason. His daughter, Rachel, is a Panthers team trainer. Last season Cam had an interception in Springboro’s 45-27 win.
Lance Engleka is a Miamisburg graduate. His father, Tim Engleka, ended his longtime baseball coaching career at Centerville as the state’s all-time winningest coach with 760 victories from 19642002. He’s now fourth.
“Anytime you could beat Dad, that was a big deal,” said Lance.
All sports at Greenon last week were postponed following the death of two students in a car crash. The Week 1 football game against Marion Pleasant will not be made up.
The visitation and memorial service was held on Greenon’s football field last Friday and funerals followed. The boys played on the Knights’ football and soccer teams.
Greenon’s football team plays at Fort Loramie today.
Fairborn’s game at Bellbrook today has been moved up to a 6 p.m. kickoff. Contact this reporter at 937225-2381 or email Marc. Pendleton@coxinc.com. Rick Cassano and Mark Schmetzer contributed to this report.