Central Ohio high school football scores, recaps for Week 3
The third Friday night of the high school football season is in the books and here are some of the highlights from Central Ohio.
Central Ohio high school football scores for Week 3; Columbus area Week 4 schedule
Watterson 28, Ready 7
Returning to the formula that worked early in the game helped Watterson pull away during the second half against Ready on Sept. 2 at Worthington Kilbourne.
The Eagles used the running of Treyton Mercer and short passes from quarterback Ryan Rudzinski to put together a 67-yard opening drive, capped by Rudzinski’s 1-yard sneak on fourth-and-goal.
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Those were the only points Watterson got during the first half, however, as it had a touchdown called back because of a penalty, lost a fumble and threw an interception.
On Watterson’s first drive of the second half, it went back to the more conservative style of its opening drive and produced its second touchdown, helping to regain the momentum that the defense added to by not allowing a first down during the third quarter.
“In the first half, I thought we made mistakes that cost us,” Eagles coach Brian Kennedy said. “They play very hard and they took advantage of some of the opportunities we gave them in the first half. We’ve got to be more consistent running the ball, like we did tonight.”
While Ready dropped to 1-1, Watterson improved to 3-0 and moved to 26-1 all-time in the series.
One of the Eagles’ miscues in the first half took place when Dom Theado caught a 20-yard pass from Rudzinski at the Ready 14 but then fumbled.
Theado, a sophomore tight end, redeemed himself with 48 seconds left in the third quarter when he scored his first varsity touchdown on an 7-yard pass from Rudzinski that made it 21-7.
"I was thinking to myself in the locker room that I had to get that (turnover) back, and it feels really good to get it back,” Theado said. “It’s a great game for us to win.”
Mercer scored on an 11-yard run with 5:49 to go in the third quarter and added a 13-yard scoring run with 9:09 remaining.
It marked the second consecutive game that Mercer topped 100 yards as he finished with 134 yards on 29 carries.
Brandon Trout added 11 catches for 72 yards, and Rudzinski had 79 yards passing, 59 yards rushing and intercepted two passes on defense.
“Our line in the second half was opening up holes, especially on the left side with Cole Rhett and Franco (Kader),” Mercer said. “I wouldn’t have had those runs if they hadn’t opened up those holes. We just have more guys buying in this year and we’re not being as selfish this year.”
Ready got its only touchdown on a 1-yard run by Kentrell Rinehart with 4:09 to go in the first half, completing a 10-play, 86-yard drive that featured a 37-yard pass from Kaleb Schaffer to Brian Fitzsimmons on the play before the touchdown.
Fitzsimmons was limited to 30 yards on 12 carries, while Dalton Miller had six catches for 93 yards to lead Ready’s offense.
“We need to execute better all around,” Ready coach Michael Schaefer said. “We had two takeaways in the first half and our kids played hard, both offensively and defensively. We’ve just got to continue to get better.”
—Jarrod Ulrey
Watterson vs. Ready
WATTERSON: 7-0-14-7--28
READY: 0-7-0-0--7
W—Rudzinski 1 run (Kessinger kick)
R—Rinehart 1 run (Craddock kick)
W—Mercer 11 run (Kessinger kick)
W—Theado 7 pass from Rudzinski (Kessinger kick)
W—Mercer 13 run (Kessinger kick)
Central Crossing 21, Westland 14
Abdul-Malik Kamara rushed for 142 yards and one touchdown, but the Central Crossing junior made his biggest contribution with a momentum-shifting 94-yard interception return for a score on the final play of the first half.
“Coach (Trevor White) told me to watch the slant,” said Kamara, whose team improved to 2-1. “I saw the ball coming, I made the play and there was nothing but green grass in front of me.”
Kamara had a 7-yard run and Anthony Whatley added a 5-yard run to round out the scoring for the Comets, who hurt themselves with two fumbles and an interception as well as 10 penalties for 95 yards.
“A win is a win,” said White, whose program has won all 12 meetings with the Cougars. “We’ve had some hard-fought games with Westland, and this was no different.”
Westland quarterback Levi Estep was 11-for-17 passing for 150 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Central Crossing’s Ethan Alcantara had the pickoff with 3:38 to play.
“We made a lot of mistakes that we have to erase,” said Westland coach Rick Rios, whose team dropped to 2-1. “We’re playing a lot of young kids, but we’re growing up and getting better.”
—Scott Hennen
Westland vs. Central Crossing
WESTLAND: 0-7-0-7--14
CENTRAL CROSSING: 7-14-0-0--21
CC—Kamara 7 run (Pauquette kick)
W—Gibbs 7 pass from Estep (Orahood kick)
CC—Whatley 5 run (kick failed)
CC—Kamara 94 return (White run)
W—Smoot 25 pass from Estep (Orahood kick)
Grove City 42, Thomas Worthington 26
Running back Jaeson Thrweatt ran for three touchdowns and the Grove City defense totaled 10 sacks to hold off a comeback attempt by host Thomas.
Thrweatt, who scored two of his three touchdowns in the first quarter as the Dawgs built a 21-0 lead, finished with 161 yards on 16 carries.
“(Thrweatt) is a tough kid to bring down,” said Grove City coach Greg Waits, whose team improved to 2-1 while the Cardinals fell to 2-1. “He plays hard every single time he touches it. He’s not going to stop. He’s going to keep driving and driving and driving. We love that kid.”
Grove City’s defense also came up big, as Trevor Mills had four sacks, Christian Isaacs added three sacks and Xavier Rose and Braden Young each had interceptions.
Matthew Papas was 16-for-29 passing for 214 yards with three touchdowns and one interception and ran for 57 yards on six carries for the Dawgs.
“We have an outstanding offense,” Waits said. “We knew (Thomas) had a pretty good offense, but we knew we could score some points, too.”
Luke Mullins was Papas’ main target with five catches for 86 yards and a touchdown.
For the Cardinals, quarterback Will Cooper went 21-for-41 passing for 390 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. Simon Smith caught four passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns.
A 70-yard reception by Smith in the third quarter with Thomas trailing 28-13 set up the Cardinals deep in Grove City territory, but Isaacs and Mills each recorded sacks before Tyler Poole broke up a fourth-down pass in the end zone.
“We were trying to sack them on every single play,” Isaacs said. “We knew when they got down there that we weren’t just going to let them score. We buckled down and stopped them. Ty was big, too — chasing down (that pass). That’s what really helped us.”
Thomas, which came away with no points after recovering a fumble at the Grove City 25 on the Dawgs’ first play from scrimmage, could not bounce back from its slow start.
“We came out super flat and didn’t show up in the first quarter and couldn’t recover from that,” Thomas coach Mike Picetti said. “We weren’t protecting up front and that’s me. I coach the O-line, so that’s on me.”
—Michael Rich
Grove City vs. Thomas Worthington
GROVE CITY: 21-0-7-14--42
THOMAS WORTHINGTON: 0-7-6-13--26
GC—Thrweatt 43 run (Kline kick)
GC—Reber 32 pass from Papas (Kline kick)
GC—Thrweatt 15 run (Kline kick)
TW—Simon 47 pass from Cooper (LaPrad kick)
GC—Mullins 53 pass from Papas (Kline kick)
TW—Simon 61 pass from Cooper (kick blocked)
GC—Thrweatt 29 run (Kline kick)
TW—Zalewski 19 pass from Cooper (pass failed)
GC—King 46 pass from Papas (Kline kick)
TW—Hern 27 pass from Cooper (LaPrad kick)
Harvest Prep 43, Eastmoor Academy 6
Harvest Prep quarterback Aidan Rodgers threw for 283 yards and four touchdowns, and Justin Batiste and Chris Brown each caught a pair of scoring passes as the Warriors cruised over host Eastmoor.
Rodgers, who was 9-for-11 passing and rushed for 63 yards on eight carries, had TD throws of 63, 43, 61 and 66 yards in the first half — three of them in the second quarter — to make it 31-6 at halftime.
“We’ve been so good at running the ball over the years, I think some teams get heavy in the box,” said Harvest Prep coach Milan Smith, whose team improved to 3-0. “Aidan is a good quarterback, and when you give a man like that 1-on-1 … it makes it extremely tough to defend us.”
Eastmoor (1-1), which had its Week 2 game canceled because of the teachers strike in Columbus, went 47 yards in nine plays on its opening drive, ending with a 2-yard touchdown run by Marvals Hampton. The Warriors struggled after that, however, and finished with negative yards rushing in the first half.
A punt snap that sailed over Aaron Dickson Jr.’s head in the second quarter gave Harvest Prep the ball at the Eastmoor 1-yard line.
Ernest Pierce, who finished with 59 yards on six carries, scored on the next play to give Harvest Prep the lead for good.
“We’d like to see our defense play a little bit better at the beginning, but what we look for is how we respond, and they responded well,” Smith said.
—Scott Gerfen
Harvest Prep vs. Eastmoor Academy
HARVEST PREP: 6-25-6-6--43
EASTMOOR ACADEMY: 6-0-0-0--6
EA—Hampton 2 run (kick failed)
HP—Batiste 63 pass from Rodgers (pass failed)
HP—Pierce 1 run (pass failed)
HP—Brown 43 pass from Rodgers (kick failed)
HP—Brown 61 pass from Rodgers (Sharpe kick)
HP—Batiste 66 pass from Rodgers (kick failed)
HP—Cox 14 run (kick failed)
HP—Pierce 8 run (kick failed)
Clayton Northmont 31, Hilliard Davidson 0
A week after holding off Grove City for a 7-3 win, Davidson trailed 21-0 at halftime and lost its first meeting against visiting Northmont, which improved to 3-0.
“They’re a really good team,” Davidson coach Jeremey Scally said. “That’s the first time this team and staff has taken a gut punch. How we respond will be indicative of what it’s going to look like, sound like and feel like moving forward. Northmont is good enough to be a 10-0 team. We got outcoached, we got outexecuted, we got out-everything tonight.”
Deuce Cortner connected on a pair of long first-half touchdown passes and Noah McClure scored on a 33-yard run to help the Thunderbolts take control.
Davidson’s first half was highlighted by Nathan Hovest’s interception near midfield. The Wildcats were limited to 36 yards in the half and finished with 72 for the game, while Northmont finished with 263 yards.
Cortner completed only six of 21 passes for 161 yards, and McClure rushed for 87 yards on 16 carries.
James Tarantine rushed for a team-high 25 yards for Davidson, which fell to 2-1.
—Frank DiRenna
Clayton Northmont vs. Hilliard Davidson
CLAYTON NORTHMONT: 7-14-7-3--31
HILLIARD DAVIDSON: 0-0-0-0--0
CN—Wilkins 79 pass from Cortner (Perkins kick)
CN—Brownlee 42 pass from Cortner (Perkins kick)
CN—McClure 33 run (Perkins kick)
CN—Schommer 12 fumble return (Perkins kick)
CN—Perkins 28 FG
Columbus Academy, Newark Catholic football game canceled
Because of the death of an Academy student, the game between the host Vikings and Newark Catholic scheduled for Sept. 2 was canceled.
“While we enjoy the camaraderie and community feeling that Friday nights like these generate, our energy and focus are not on hosting a celebratory night, but on caring for our community members who are hurting after the loss of a fellow student,” Bob Lee, the school’s director of communications and marketing, said in a statement.
—Frank DiRenna
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Greater Columbus high school football scores, recaps in Week 3
