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Ohio high school football: Live updates from Week 1 Columbus-area games
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- Ohio high school football: Live updates from Week 1 Columbus-area games
Players, coaches and fans have been counting down for weeks, and Week 1 of the 2024 Ohio high school football season finally is here.
Action got underway around the state Thursday, but the first Columbus-area games were Friday. We had writers and photographers at three games Friday night: three-time defending Division I state champion Lakewood St. Edward at Pickerington North , Harvest Prep taking on Pickerington Central in the first football game in Central's new stadium and reigning regional champion Hilliard Bradley visiting Groveport.
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See the details below, including at least one result that might surprise you.
August 23, 2024; Groveport, Ohio, USA; Linebackers for Groveport Madison High School warm up before Friday night’s football game against Hilliard Bradley.
Harvest Prep and North were the subjects of two of our 10 bold predictions for the season . Both of them could be state title contenders, in divisions V and I, respectively.
Central, which won state titles in 2017 and 2019, and Bradley, which won its first regional title last season , also are candidates to make deep postseason runs. They joined North and Harvest Prep in the top 10 of our Top 25 preseason poll for central Ohio , and St. Edward was ranked No. 1 in the USA Today Network Preseason Ohio Super 25 .
Watch OHSAA football on NFHS Network all season long
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OHSAA, scores updates from Week 1 of Ohio high school football season
Groveport takes care of Hilliard Bradley
It was a big night for the Cruisers, who built a 22-0 lead and won 28-7.
The Cruisers have two of the best defensive linemen in central Ohio in Keishaun Calhoun and Jalen Joyce, and the defense stood out.
The unit added to Groveport's 14-0 lead when Joyce scooped up a fumble following a sack of Declan O'Neil and scored on a short return. Raishad King added the two-point conversion for a 22-0 advantage with 7:44 left in first half.
That was the score at halftime, and at the end of the third quarter.
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Jo'Siyah Foster added a 17-yard TD run for the Cruisers.
Joyce's 1-yard TD run with 4:54 left in first quarter capped a 77-yard scoring drive.
Later on, two plays after having a TD run nullified because of holding, King scored on a 6-yard run for a 14-0 lead with 8:07 left in second quarter.
O'Neil, a sophomore who started in Bradley's Division I state semifinal loss last year because of an injury to Bradyn Fleharty, threw a TD pass with 59.4 seconds remaining.
Harvest Prep knocks off Pickerington Central
Division V Harvest Prep, a four-time state semifinalist since 2016, was the opponent for the first regular-season game in Central's new stadium. Central, a Division I state champion in 2017 and 2019, is a perennial big-school power, so this figured to be a huge test for the Warriors.
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They passed, winning 24-21.
Dezmond Porter's third touchdown run, from 52 yards, gave Harvest Prep an 18-14 lead in the third quarter. Porter had scored earlier from 5 and 65 yards.
Central responded with a 10-play, 73-yard drive, taking a 21-18 lead on Kaejuan Alexander's 1-yard run with 4:24 left. It was Alexander's second TD of the game.
Harvest Prep answered back, taking a 24-21 lead on Jamarcus Jones' 28-yard touchdown reception from Collin Boff.
Central's Carson Goulet missed a 42-yard field attempt with 35 seconds left, and Harvest Prep hung on to win.
Ohio high school football: Who won in Week 1? Scores from Columbus and around the state
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Central led 14-12 at halftime after Gerald Banks ran for a 65-yard score with 2:40 left in the first half.
The Tigers reached Harvest Prep's 27 on their opening drive of the third, but Goulet missed a field goal.
Harvest Prep's opening drive went 11 plays and 67 yards, led by Porter, who scored on a 5-yard run. Central responded with a long TD run, 64 yards, by Alexander on the second play from scrimmage to make it 7-6 Tigers.
Porter then scored on a 65-yard run, and Harvest Prep was up 12-7 with 4:12 left in first quarter.
Lakewood St. Edward defeats Pickerington North
Seeking a fourth straight Division I state title, St. Edward isn't shying away from tough competition this season, playing two out-of-state defending state champions in Philadelphia St. Joseph's Prep and Danville ( Kentucky ) Boyle County, and two defending Ohio champions in Massillon Washington (Division II) and Cleveland Glenville (Division IV).
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This was the first game at North for quarterback Jarin Mock, a Wisconsin commit who previously attended Reynoldsburg.
The star of the game was St. Edward's defense. All 10 of North's possessions ended in punts.
North's Tyson Long, a cornerback with 16 college offers, had two interceptions, including one of St. Ed's quarterback Thomas Csanyi to halt the Eagles' game-opening 12-play drive.
The game was scoreless after the first quarter. Despite running only eight plays to the Eagles' 24, North used its defense to hang in.
St. Ed's got back-to-back sacks to end the first quarter and start the second, forced a punt and then on the second play of the ensuing possession, Csanyi threw a 39-yard dart down the middle of the field to Zach Hackelman. Hackelman hauled it in under double coverage for a 7-0 Eagles lead with 9:46 left in the first half.
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Another big play put St. Ed's up by two scores. Facing fourth-and-7 at the North 31, Csanyi got plenty of time and found Joe Saffold open over the middle. Saffold made a few nice moves into the end zone for a 31-yard TD as the Eagles extend their lead to 14-0 with 2:00 left in the first half, and that was the halftime score.
Brandon White extended St. Edward's lead to 21-0 with 3:13 left in the third on a 12-yard touchdown run.
Csanyi added his third touchdown pass on the next drive, finding Mason Sak from 40 yards for a 28-0 lead.
Franklin Heights shuts out Bexley
Franklin Heights, playing its final season in the OCC, defeated future Central Buckeye League rival Bexley 12-0 at home.
Watterson shuts out Big Walnut
Coming off a Division III state runner-up finish, Watterson opened with a 20-0 win at Big Walnut. Jake Uhlenhake caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from new starting quarterback Drew Bellisari, and Jack McCoy scored on a 15-yard run.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: OHSAA football: Week 1 updates from central Ohio high school games
