Upper Arlington football team enjoys 'another great year'
The Upper Arlington football team set new standards during its 13-0 start in 2021, which included its first Division I regional championship in 21 years and giving eventual champion Lakewood St. Edward one of its closest games of the year in a state semifinal.
Twelve months later, with more than 20 new starters — counting those filling in for injured players — the Golden Bears again found themselves among central Ohio’s best teams.
UA went 10-3 overall and 4-1 in the OCC-Central Division to tie Dublin Coffman for first and earned the second seed in Region 3. The Bears lost 20-7 to third-seeded New Albany in a semifinal Nov. 11 at Westerville Central.
“I tell people all the time, having a good program is not about one good year,” coach Justin Buttermore said. “This was about a group of guys nobody expected very much out of being able to stack another great year on top of last year. That’s how you build programs.”
UA, which won at least a share of the league championship for the third time in four years, averaged 26.7 points per game with an almost entirely new cast of skill players and only two returning starters on offense.
Back from a year ago were senior lineman Henry Rappolt and classmate James Hayek, who split time at quarterback in 2021 with 2022 graduate Simon Monnin while largely playing defensive back.
Senior linebacker Collin Ansel was the other returnee.
All played central roles in the Bears’ success, although Ansel and Rappolt missed time late in the season because of illness and Hayek suffered a season-ending right knee injury during UA’s 31-0 victory over Westerville Central in a regional quarterfinal Nov. 4.
Against New Albany, the Bears were hurt by four turnovers — all interceptions — and averaged less than 3 yards per carry. Senior wide receiver Rocco Prati had UA’s only score, catching a 6-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Tommy Janowicz in the second quarter.
“We had a lot of question marks but really the mindset in this program is reload, not rebuild,” said Hayek, who completed 132 of 195 passes for 1,511 yards and 13 touchdowns with five interceptions and ran for 435 yards and 10 scores on 112 carries to earn league Offensive Player of the Year and first-team all-district along with Rappolt. “We had a lot of guys step up and work their tails off. We just went out and played.
“We started off a little slow. We had a tough loss against Pickerington North (18-13 on Sept. 2), but with that Hilliard Bradley game (a 29-0 win Sept. 23 to open league play), we really came together as a team. We all looked around and thought we could go pretty far.”
UA opened with two lopsided wins, 42-14 at Reynoldsburg on Aug. 19 and 37-0 over Toledo St. Francis seven days later. After the loss to North, the Bears beat Westerville Central (28-10 on Sept. 9), Groveport (14-13 on Sept. 16) and Bradley before a 28-27 overtime loss to Olentangy Liberty on Sept. 23. UA led the Patriots by two touchdowns with four minutes left.
The Bears won five in a row from there, including regular-season wins against Olentangy Orange (41-10 on Oct. 7), Coffman (17-7 on Oct. 14) and Hilliard Davidson (24-6 on Oct. 21). They opened the playoffs Oct. 28 with a 37-7 home rout of 15th-seeded Reynoldsburg.
Along the way, several new contributors made names for themselves.
Junior Connor McClellan led the running game with 456 yards and seven touchdowns on 87 carries before missing most of the final month with an injury. Classmate Jack Ubert added 385 yards on 118 attempts with four scores.
Janowicz was 47-for-74 passing for 549 yards with four touchdowns, ran for 200 yards and three touchdowns on 39 carries and had 33 tackles at defensive back.
Hayek and Janowicz worked with an array of receivers, including sophomore Wally Swiney (35 catches, 541 yards, 5 TDs), Prati (23 catches, 394 yards, 5 scores) and seniors Caden Woods (13 catches, 343 yards, 2 TDs) and Lance Thrush (34 catches, 325 yards, 2 TDs).
“At the beginning of the year, there was a lot of competition at my position,” Swiney said. “This is a hard-working team. I knew I’d have to work hard if I wanted to play.”
Junior linebacker George Gerber’s 69 tackles, including 61 solo stops and 10 for loss, led the defense. Senior linebacker Jacob Hanks added 50 tackles, and junior defensive back Quinn Crotty had a team-best five interceptions. Sophomore defensive back Zach Corna added three interceptions.
Senior defensive back Charlie Paxton (46 tackles, 1 interception), Rappolt, Crotty, Gerber, Janowicz and junior kicker Holden Milliken (8-for-12 field goals, 42-for-45 extra points) were named first-team all-league. Ansel (29 tackles), Corna, McClellan and Swiney were second-team all-league, Prati was special mention all-league and junior defensive lineman Cole Compton (34.5 tackles) was honorable mention all-league.
Gerber and Paxton earned second-team all-district. Crotty, Janowicz, Milliken and Swiney were special mention all-district and Ansel, Corna and McClellan were named honorable mention all-district.
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UA FOOTBALL
•Record: 10-3 overall
•OCC-Central standings: Upper Arlington (4-1), Dublin Coffman (4-1), Olentangy Liberty (3-2), Hilliard Davidson (2-3), Hilliard Bradley (1-4), Olentangy Orange (1-4)
•Seniors lost: Nick Acton, Collin Ansel, Will Barger, Owen Beegle, Ross Bloomfield, Zane Dabbs, Nicholas Ferola, Jacob Hanks, Joey Harder, James Hayek, Jayvon Hines, Ethan Keen, Alex Milton, Charlie Paxton, Rocco Prati, Henry Rappolt, Tyler Sawmiller, Nick Sawyer, Kevin Shen, Lance Thrush, Isaac Webb II and Caden Woods
•Key returnees: Cole Compton, Zach Corna, Quinn Crotty, George Gerber, Tommy Janowicz, Connor McClellan, Austin Stutz, Wally Swiney, Jack Ubert, Steven Ye and Henry Zettler
•Postseason: Def. Reynoldsburg 37-7; def. Westerville Central 31-0; lost to New Albany 20-7 in Division I, Region 3 semifinal
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Upper Arlington football team enjoys 'another great year'
