COLUMBUS (AP) — The Jackson Ironmen will go out on top as the last Southeastern Ohio Athletic League football champion, after clinching the title with a 46-14 win against Logan on Friday.
The two schools are the only remaining original members of the league that was formed in 1925 but after 92 years will cease to exist at the end of the current school year. The SEOAL is the state’s oldest, continuous running, non-city high school athletic conference, according to Craig Dunn, The Logan Daily News sports editor and SEOAL historian.
The league had 20 schools as members at various points throughout its history but just three are competing this season.
Jackson (5-2) is departing to join five soon-to-be former South Central Ohio League schools to form a new conference, leaving Logan and Vincent Warren without full-time league affiliations.
For Jackson, its third straight championship and 25th overall is second in league history to Logan’s 26. Original members Gallipolis Gallia Academy (17), Ironton 14 and Athens (12) follow in titles.
In the clinching win, Jackson quarterback Bryce Hall, the son of Ironmen coach Andy Hall, threw for 334 yards and five touchdown passes to five receivers to beat Logan (1-6).
TOUGH SCHEDULE:
Kenton’s 3-4 record is deceiving because it has played one of the toughest schedules in the state. Three of the Wildcats’ four losses have been to unbeaten teams ranked in the latest Associated Press state polls: (Wapakoneta, fourth in Division III), St. Marys Memorial (No. 7, D-III) and Ottawa-Glandorf (No. 8, D-IV). The other loss was a season-opening setback to defending Division V state champion Coldwater (third in D-V), which suffered its first loss in seven games when the Cavaliers were beaten by Minster 33-18 on Friday.
Speaking of Coldwater, Jared Huelsman rushed for 140 yards and two touchdowns and threw for 175 yards and three scores as Minster snapped visiting Coldwater’s 34-game winning streak. Bryce Schmiesing rushed for 133 yards and caught a touchdown pass for Minster, which ended its four-game losing streak after opening the season 2-0.
DOWN TO THE WIRE
Eric Spicer rushed for 181 yards and two touchdowns to lead St. Marys Memorial to a 30-0 win over Celina in the 98th meeting of the Battle of Grand Lake. Western Buckeye League co-leaders St. Marys, Wapakoneta and Ottawa-Glandorf — all 7-0 overall and 6-0 in the league — will play each other over the final three weeks of the season. Wapakoneta hosts Ottawa-Glandorf this week before traveling to Auglaize County neighbor and rival St. Marys in week nine. St. Marys and Ottawa-Glandorf play in week 10.
FOR THE RECORD
Liberty Center senior running back Zack Carpenter rushed for a school-record 332 yards on 30 attempts in a 28-6 win over Wauseon. He also scored four touchdowns. . McArthur Vinton County junior quarterback Naylan Yates set a program record with 427 passing yards in a game during a 41-0 win at Stewart Federal Hocking. He was 23 of 31 with five touchdowns. . Zelwyn Robinson of West Chester Lakota West ran 26 times for 291 yards and a school-record six touchdowns in a 49-21 victory over Cincinnati Oak Hills. . Hamler Patrick Henry’s Donny Johnson had a school-record 43 carries for 201 yards and scored three touchdowns, including the game-winner with 1:20 to play, as the Patriots beat Swanton 35-28 in a Northwest Ohio Athletic League battle of unbeatens. Johnson’s 43 carries broke Dan Diem’s 1977 record of 39.
FOOT NOTABLES
Dayton Northridge’s Derrick Skinner ran 33 times for 425 yards and three touchdowns in a 44-42 victory over Waynesville. . Ada quarterback Seth Conley completed 24 of 36 passes for 325 yards and four TDs and rushed for 88 yards and two more scores in a 49-20 win over Paulding. . Cooper Bezeredi scored on an 85-yard kickoff return, a 74-yard fumble return and a 30-yard pass, and added 103 yards on 13 carries in leading Salem past Minerva, 49-26. . Sophomore quarterback Parker Sherry threw for 285 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 189 yards and another score in East Palestine’s 49-41 win over Columbiana Crestview. . Columbus West is 7-0 for the first time since 1969, when it started 8-0. The Cowboys, who are averaging 47 points per game, are shooting for their first playoff berth in history. . Jake Greer threw three fourth-quarter touchdowns to rally Hicksville past Defiance Tinora, 27-20. Greer finished with 329 yards passing. . After missing two games with an injury, Kasey Williams of Defiance Ayersville returned to rush for 172 yards and two touchdowns while adding a field goal in a 45-32 win over Sherwood Fairview. . Will Homan rushed for 189 yards and a touchdown to help Fort Recovery beat Delphos St. John’s, 17-7.
EIGHT IS ENOUGH:
Fostoria St. Wendelin did not want a repeat of 2015, when the school had to cancel its entire season when the number of healthy players on the roster fell below the 16-man requirement mandated by the school. The school reinstated football this season, playing club teams and some OHSAA schools.
But with numbers dwindling once again, some changes were necessary. So in week 6 against Stryker, which is just starting a football program and playing a junior varsity schedule, the two schools played an eight-man football game. This past week, St. Wendelin had Tiffin Calvert on the schedule, and with just 13 players in uniform and not wanting to ruin Calvert’s Homecoming, the schools decided once again to play eight-on-eight. Calvert’s Fred Fabrizio rushed for 115 yards and three touchdowns and Austin Jones added 156 yards and two TDs as the Senecas rolled to a 77-14 victory.
