Canal Winchester, Harvest Prep, Pickerington teams hope to hit stride as playoffs near
The Canal Winchester football team has leaned on a stout defense throughout a regular season it hopes leads to a fourth consecutive playoff appearance and fifth in six years.
Outside of a 45-13 loss at New Albany on Aug. 26, the Indians allowed 6.0 points per game through the first seven weeks. The unit gave up 21 points at Westerville South on Oct. 7, and the Wildcats’ other 14 points came off two defensive touchdowns by South linebacker Quan Rhodes-McKee that played a large part in the 35-21 final.
But the Indians’ offense also seemed to be rounding into form as the postseason nears.
They amassed 273 rushing yards and 344 total at South, their second-best output of the year to that point behind 356 total yards in a 20-11 win over Hartley on Sept. 2.
“We’ve made some big plays. We came back to what we’re good at, and that’s (strong play) up front,” coach Jake Kuhner said. “We had both of our backs running very well (against South). There were some unfortunate events, and that’s what football games come down to.”
Kaseem Wade ran for a career-high 160 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries, including a key 19-yard gain in the third quarter to set up a score that kept Canal Winchester within one possession at 28-20.
Corey Howard, who has been the primary back, took a screen pass from quarterback Maxton Brunner 52 yards to set up Wade’s touchdown two drives earlier.
Through eight weeks, Howard had rushed for 674 yards and five touchdowns on 107 carries, and Wade had 373 yards and five scores on 89 attempts.
Canal Winchester was 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the OCC-Capital Division before playing Delaware on Oct. 14.
“We just have to get (Wade) going. He has big-play capability and we know that,” Kuhner said. “Corey is more of our pounder, our tough-nosed guy. We’ll get hard yards with him. He gets hard yards every game. Kaseem gets a little juke out there or shoots the gap and he’s dangerous. Both of them are dangerous back there. They both bring us something different.”
The Indians, who were 12th (10.75 points) in the Division II, Region 7 computer ratings released Oct. 11, finish the regular season Oct. 21 at defending league champion Big Walnut. The Golden Eagles were 7-1 overall and 4-1 in the league before playing Dublin Scioto on Oct. 14 and stood fifth in Region 7 entering Week 9.
The top 16 teams in each region make the playoffs, and the top eight seeds play host to first-round games.
Harvest Prep battling for No. 1 seed
Despite his team experiencing its best start since putting together a perfect regular season and finishing 11-1 in 2018, Harvest Prep coach Milan Smith has found plenty of areas in which he’d like to see improvement heading into the Division V, Region 19 playoffs.
The Warriors, who beat Whitehall 51-18 on Oct. 7, were 8-0 overall and 4-0 in the MSL-Ohio entering a non-league contest against Licking Heights on Oct. 14.
“It hasn’t been very pretty,” said Smith, whose team was second (17.5521) behind Ironton (22.2128) in Region 19 before facing Licking Heights. “We can play better. Sometimes we haven’t been playing that well and you’ve got to win some games the old-fashioned way, but they’re 14-, 15-, 16-year-old kids. We’re looking for what every coach is looking for, which is more consistency.
“You don’t get off to (such a strong start) by having glaring weaknesses, but you just have areas you want to improve because you want to be playing in December.”
Senior quarterback Aidan Rogers missed one game with injury but still had thrown for 19 touchdowns through eight games.
Smith has been pleased with the leadership Rogers has provided and with the growth of both his offensive and defensive lines, which have been led by seniors Xavier Cain and Rashad Debose.
Freshman Dez Porter has stepped into a bigger role on the defensive line and sophomore center C.J. Meeks has returned from an injury to provide depth on the offensive line.
Harvest Prep, which reached a state semifinal for the third time last fall, likely has at least one and possibly two home playoff games wrapped up.
“Defensively, we’ve been getting a lot of consistency out of some of our defensive tackles,” Smith said. “We’re really happy with (our offensive line). They communicate really well. We’re pretty healthy.”
—Jarrod Ulrey
Central looking to add to title streak
The Tigers headed into their Week 9 matchup against Lancaster on Oct. 14 at home on track to win their fourth consecutive league championship.
Central lost three of its first five but opened OCC-Buckeye action with wins over Newark (35-6 on Sept. 23) and Central Crossing (35-0 on Sept. 30) and was 5-3 overall and 3-0 in the league after beating Groveport 21-14 on Oct. 7.
The Tigers, who lost senior all-purpose standout Rasheem Biles to an injury during a 22-20 loss to Gahanna on Sept. 16, have gone with a three-player rotation at quarterback featuring senior Braden Mantooth, junior Terrance Alexander and freshman Rocco Williams for most of the season.
“When you lose your most talented player, you figure out the skill set of the guys you have,” said coach Jay Sharrett, whose team was sixth (16.0625 points) in the Region 3 playoff ratings before playing Lancaster. “We’ve done it before. You want to find those three, four, five guys that have the skill set. Some of the guys can do some of the things (Biles) can do.”
Central had thrown for just three touchdowns through eight games, with two by Mantooth, while Alexander had thrown for one touchdown and rushed for six scores.
Biles also started in the secondary, leaving seniors Isaiah Crozier, Isaiah Harper and Zavion Mattox and junior Dominic Shaw among those who have been asked to step into bigger roles since his injury.
“We’ve got a couple of young defensive backs in the mix,” Sharrett said. “We’re still trying to bring (Alexander) along. He got a little varsity time last year and in the second half of our season, (his growth is going to) put a little bit of a hop in our step.”
—Jarrod Ulrey
North sharpening skills for playoffs
A 42-15 loss to Westerville Central on Sept. 23 to open OCC-Ohio action was an early blow to the Panthers’ league title hopes, but they bounced back with a 56-0 win over Westland on Sept. 30 and have an opportunity to wrap up at least one home playoff game if they win Oct. 21 at home against Gahanna.
After rallying from a 21-0 deficit to beat Grove City 28-21 on Oct. 7, North was 6-2 overall and 2-1 in the league before facing New Albany on Oct. 14.
In the Region 3 playoff ratings entering the matchup with the Eagles, the Panthers were second (17.5398) and New Albany was third (17.2247).
“We’re getting people locked in and making sure everybody’s on track,” senior linebacker Malik Ray said. “We know what we need to do and we’re just making sure everybody is getting right. More so for us on defense, we have to be running to the ball. You never know what can happen. They might catch a deep ball or might start juggling it or tip it and you might get the interception and run it back.”
Ray, who typically lines up at middle linebacker, had 11.5 tackles for loss and 33.5 total tackles through seven games to lead the defense.
Senior defensive back Kaedyn Dunbar-White had two interceptions against Westland as North posted its third shutout of the season.
"Offensively, we need to work on scoring in the red zone and finishing drives,” coach Nate Hillerich said. “Against Pickerington Central (in a 14-7 loss Sept. 9), we got inside their 15 and came away with zero points, and against Westerville Central, we were inside their 30 three times and got zero points.
“Defensively, we’re super experienced up front, but we’ve got a couple first-year starters in the back. When you play good teams, you find areas where you’re weak and need to improve in.”
—Jarrod Ulrey
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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Football: Pickerington-area teams hope to hit stride as playoffs near
