High school sports heat up as weather cools
There’s a chill in the air that can mean only one thing: the postseason is just around the corner.
It’s hard to believe, but the fall postseason starts next week with sectionals in Divisions II and III golf, and before we know it, football playoffs will be here at the end of October.
Through the first six weeks of the football season, we’ve seen huge blowout wins like New Albany’s 77-0 win over Newark in Week 5, tight overtime finishes like Marysville’s 21-14 OT win over Hilliard Darby on Friday and everything in between.
Things are only going to heat up from here, as football gets into the heart of battles for league titles and the postseason looms for the rest of the fall sports. Here at The Dispatch, we can’t wait to see the standout performances as we get deeper into the fall.
As always, let us know if there’s a player or team doing something outstanding that we should know about. We don’t want to miss out on highlighting anyone throughout the rest of the regular season and the playoffs.
Here are some of the top performances and news-worthy notes from the past week around central Ohio.
Football
Heath sophomore quarterback Brayden Bayles completed 9 of 12 passes for 175 yards and three touchdowns in Heath’s 68-14 win over Lakewood . ...
Olentangy Berlin sophomore quarterback Harrison Brewster rushed for 143 yards and three touchdowns on 15 carries, including the game-winning 70-yard touchdown, and completed five of six passes for 60 yards . ...
Marion-franklin quarterback De’aire Summerall completed 17 of 25 passes for 291 yards and four touchdowns with one interception in a narrow 30-28 win over Independence . ...
Jonny Weir rushed for 183 yards and two touchdowns in Hilliard Davidson’s 34-21 win over Olentangy Orange. Leo Nixon added 128 yards and another two touchdowns . ...
Nasir Robinson racked up 195 allpurpose yards and three touchdowns for Lancaster in a 35-20 win over Central Crossing. Robinson had two rushing touchdowns and one receiving . ...
New Albany running back Jadyn Garnesrushed for 216 yards and four touchdowns in a 56-14 win over Grove City.
Soccer
Granville junior Ella Schneider scored two goals for the third straight game in Granville’s 4-0 win over Licking Valley on Thursday. Schneider also had an assist to finish with three total points and has scored 10 goals in nine games this season . ...
Hannah Thompson had a hat trick in Westerville South’s 8-0 win over Groveport Madison on Thursday . ...
Desales sophomore Luca Romanelli scored four goals in a 10-0 win over Ready on Tuesday . ...
Whetstone senior Abdi Mohamed notched his third hat trick of the season in a 6-1 win over Columbus International. Mohamed has 11 goals in seven games for the undefeated Braves . ...
Dublin Scioto senior Jayden Lunsford committed to Bowling Green . ...
New Albany remains No. 2 in the Division I boys poll, with Upper Arlington eighth. Grandview Heights is No. 4 in
the Division III boys poll and Worthington Christian is ninth . ...
In the Division I girls poll, Olentangy is No. 6 and Olentangy Liberty is No. 10. Granville remains third in the Division II girls poll. Grandview Heights is No. 5 in the Division III girls poll.
Volleyball
Big Walnut senior Caroline Speelman, a Xavier commit, broke the school’s record for assists in a career with 947.
Cross Country
Hilliard Davidson is second in the Division I girls poll and received three first-place votes. Davidson is No. 3 in the Division I boys poll, and Olentangy Orange is No. 10 . ...
Granville ranks second in the Division II girls poll and received three firstplace votes. Desales is No. 10 in the Division II boys poll.
Lacrosse
New Albany senior Catherine Gurd committed to Xavier, where she’ll be a member of the school’s inaugural women’s lacrosse team . ...
Dublin Coffman junior Kate Tyack committed to Ohio State.
Baseball
Hilliard Bradley junior Carter Hanson committed to Ohio State.
Basketball
Max Shawver, who has been an assistant with the Westerville Central boys program since 2018, will be the new head coach at Johnstown . ...
Watterson senior Kiley Graham committed to the University of Charleston . ...
Worthington Kilbourne senior Lauren Scott committed to Wright State.
Field Hockey
With two goals in a 4-1 win Friday night, Lauren Scott became Worthington Kilbourne’s all-time leading scorer. ...
Lucy Keeler had a hat trick in Olentangy Liberty’s win over Bexley on Friday to remain undefeated.
Athlete of the Week
Olentangy Liberty football player JJ Sebert won Athlete of the Week for Sept. 13-19. Nominations for the week of Sept. 20-26 are due at noon on Monday.