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Now to the DBHuddle.com Week One match-ups, we’ll be attending.
The 2022 OHSAA football season kicks off on Thursday night with great match-ups. DBHuddle will head to Fairfield to watch a great Week One match-up between Huber Heights Wayne and Fairfield.
Fairfield head coach Jason Krause finished last season with a 6-5 record but saw early struggles before putting together four straight wins in the season’s final weeks, including a playoff win over Mason before falling to Moeller.
Junior quarterback Talon Fisher returns after throwing for 1,381 yards and rushing for 550 yards and 12 touchdowns. However, Fisher threw 13 interceptions to only six touchdowns. Seven of his interceptions came in the first three games.
He’s joined by West Virginia pledge Jordan Jackson who rushed for 973 yards last season and six touchdowns. Jackson’s twin brother Josiah Jackson is also pledged to the Mountaineers and posted 48 tackles and two interceptions last season.
Along the defensive line, James Thomas is a player to watch as a big senior year could see schools outside of the Mid-American Conference show interest. We watched Thomas last season in Week One, where he played tight end, and felt he’d make a great offensive lineman. That may still be the case once he gets to college.
Joining Thomas is Aamir Rogers, a 6-foot-6, 230-pound defensive end we also saw last season. Rogers is a multi-sport athlete who we’re excited to see again as we feel he may be a Hidden Gem in Southwest Ohio for the 2023 recruiting class.
Huber Heights Wayne lost some talent last season with players that headed off to Alabama and Notre Dame.
However, Wayne has always been able to reload and returns two Division One offensive line pledges in Josh Padilla, who is a long-time pledge to Ohio State, and Evan Tengesdahl, who will head off to play for Luke Fickell and the Cincinnati Bearcats.
Head coach Roosevelt Mukes has his team coming off an 8-3 season with a heartbreaking loss in the playoffs against Dublin Coffman that still leaves a bad taste in their mouth.
Sophomore quarterback Tyrell Lewis returns after throwing for 1,163 yards and ten touchdowns last season. First, however, Lewis will have to cut down on the interceptions, having thrown seven last season.
His main target is not stranger in Ball State pledge RJ Mukes who hauled in 21 balls for 219 yards and a touchdown last season.
Watch for junior defensive end Javon Hammonds who posted 75 tackles with 4.5 sacks on defense.
Last season Fairfield opened against a tough Centerville squad out of the Greater Western Ohio Conference. Wayne is also out of the same conference and will be just as tough of a Week One test. However, we couldn’t pass up this match-up as it should be a great game with great talent on both sides.
Friday night, we’ll head to Covington Catholic high school for the first game of the First Star Logistics “Saturday High School Rivals” series on Star64, where the Colonels will host the Elder Panthers.
Covington Catholic is coming off a 9-4 season, and head coach Eddie Eviston will bring a young squad into a tough match-up to open up the season.
The defense is led by Army pledge Aiden Jones who led the Colonels with 83 tackles last season from his linebacker spot.
But we’ll be watching the play of a couple of juniors as Willie Rodriguez is a player we saw have a great camp season as a tight end. Rodriguez is going to become one of the top prospects in the region. While we’re excited to see what he can do at tight end when we watched him at the Best of the Midwest back in February, he took reps as a linebacker, and we feel he’s got even more upside as a linebacker or rush edge player.
Braylon Miller is a 6-foot-0 160-pound junior who looks ready to breakout this season. We liked what Miller did on film as a cornerback from last season and know he’ll also lineup as a receiver.
The big question for the Colonels this season will be the play at quarterback. Talk is junior Evan Pitzer was the favorite to win the starting job, and if so, he’ll enter the game with limited reps, having thrown for 252 yards and two passing touchdowns. Pitzer can also run the ball and, in limited action, rushed for 53 yards and a score.
It’s a big year and milestone for the Elder Panthers as they celebrate the school’s 100th year. Head coach Doug Ramsey is set to start his 26th season at the school and knows his squad will get tested early against the Colonels before hosting Pickerington Central the following week.
Last season the Panthers finished 6-6 but must find replacements for quarterback Ben Hambleton and multi-position weapon Drew Ramsey.
Ramsey has always been one of the top offensive minds but will need to find weapons after struggles running the ball last year. Always good for an offensive lineman or two, 2022 may be more defensive slanted with sophomore Maddox Arnold a name to watch after having a breakout freshman season.
Both teams enter this game looking to answer questions on who they’ll be this season.
There you have it. Two great games to open the high school football season. We know there were many games we would have loved to be at this week, but we feel these two match-ups are quality games to kick off the start of what should be an exciting football season.
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Again, we want to thank First Star Logistics for their commitment to all local sports at all levels and encourage you to check out DBHuddle.com for interviews, player profiles, and more as we’ll talk football at the high school, college as the UC Bearcats look for another big year, and NFL as the Cincinnati Bengals have the look of another great team.
Until next time, good luck to all the teams this weekend, and have a great season.
