Tag: Ohio high school football

Ohio high school football playoffs: How to watch as 2023 postseason kicks off

The OHSAA Playoffs have arrived!

The high school football postseason has arrived in Ohio, kicking off one of the most storied timeframes in one of the most storied states for earning gridiron glory.

From St. Clairsville to St. Edwards and everywhere in between, above and below, storylines dot the landscape as teams in the OHSAA High School Football Playoff Brackets battle for championship supremacy.

For high school football fans around the state who are looking to watch all the playoff action, you can live stream the games on the NFHS Network.

Ohio high school football playoffs

(USA TODAY Network)

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Top 10 players in Ohio high school football heading into the 2023 season

Here are the 10 best players in the state of Ohio, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Schools from California, Florida and Texas tend to get most of the attention when it comes to the nation’s top high school football prospects. Several other highly-competitive states produce great talent every year, though. Georgia has to be on that list, as does Ohio. Today, let’s take a look at some of the top Ohio-based recruits going into the 2023 season, according to our colleagues at the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Subscribe to the Enquirer/Cincinnati.com here

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Ohio bans Saturday games for high school football playoffs

School buses carrying Ohio HS football team crash on way to game

At least eight people were hospitalized after three buses transporting the Colerain High School football team to a game crashed.

At least eight people have been hospitalized after three school buses crashed carrying an Ohio high school football team to its game on Friday night, according to FOX 19 and other local outlets.

Colerain High School (Cincinnati, Ohio) football was traveling approximately 20 miles to its playoff game against Mason (Ohio) High School when the crash occurred on Interstate 75. Local outlets said that the bus in front stopped “abruptly” in traffic, which led to a crash from the buses behind. A pickup truck also hit a bus, according to FOX 19.

One of the buses was carrying students, according to UPI. The Ohio State Highway Patrol confirmed to FOX 19 that eight people were hospitalized, and a spokesperson for Northwest Local Schools told the outlet that a ninth person had been hospitalized as well.

The Northwest Local Schools spokesperson said there were eight students and one coach who went to the hospital.

None of the injuries are believed to be serious, as the spokesperson called the hospitalizations precautionary, per FOX 19.

The game was delayed by about an hour but was not postponed. Colerain fell to Mason 14-7 and finishes its season with a record of 4-7.

Mason, with a 9-2 record, will take on Springboro (Ohio) High School on Nov. 4.

Steubenville’s Saccoccia sets Ohio high school record with opening win

402 wins broke a tie with legendary Manchester head coach Jim France for the most in Ohio HS history.

Ohio high school football has a new all-time winningest coach: Steubenville Big Red’s Reno Saccoccia.

Saccoccia has been on the sidelines for the past four decades, at the forefront of a program that has produced countless teams that ruled under the Friday night lights.

He has won four state championships, including the Big Red’s thrilling 12-9 overtime win over Columbus Whitehall-Yearling in 1984, Saccoccia’s second year at the helm.

Nearly 40 years later, he stepped onto the field Friday night with 401 wins, good enough for a tie with Manchester’s legendary coach Jim France.

Forty-eight minutes later… History.

Following the game, the Hall of Famer provided a humble response about the monumental achievement.

“There are a lot of people I have to thank,” he told The Intelligencer after the team’s 21-0 win over Louisville (Ohio). “Forty years of players, 40 years of coaches, 40 years of parents, 40 years of a true Big Red nation. I love working for all of them.”

SCORES: Live in-game results around the nation as they happen

Trick plays were on full display this week: Westerville Central (Ohio) and Loganville (Ga.)

NIL news: Malachi Nelson: 5-star QB, USC commit signs with Klutch Sports

Live-Stream your team’s games in 2022 on the NFHS Network

Ohio High School Football: Top 5 players to watch as 2022 season kicks off

Friday nights in Ohio have always produced top-tier talent on the football field. This year is no exception.

Friday nights in the state of Ohio have produced a ton of outstanding high school football talent over the years.

The regions from the north, south, east and west corners of the state each hold a significant spot in history, with teams always making a case to be considered among the best in the nation while complemented by stellar athletes that eventually go on to the NCAA level and even the NFL.

And the 2022 Ohio high school football season certainly looks to continue the overall trend.

As the gridiron action kicks off, we’re looking at the top five players to watch in the Buckeye State, according to the Ohio journalists within the USA TODAY Sports Network.

Here’s how the players were ranked, per Cincinnati.com | The Enquirer:

USA TODAY Network Ohio staff members across the state researched and compiled a list of its respective area’s top players. The journalists voted on these players using a point system. First-place players received 22 points, second-place players got 21 and so on until the 22nd player wrapped it up with 1 point. Those points were tabulated to determine the top 22 players.

See the full list here

And with that in mind, here are the top five …

See It: Marcus Freeman’s 2003 recruiting profile

“His head coach calls Marcus a once in a lifetime ballplayer”

Recruiting has certainly changed over the years as sites like Rivals and 247Sports have soared the last two decades and seemingly every high school football player who sees the field has their own Hudl to display their skills.

Not that long ago the recruiting world was quite a bit different, however.  For instance, when soon-to-be Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman was being recruited one of the biggest outlets to learn about the future college stars was in “Tom Lemming’s Prep Football Report”.

Lemming was one of the first to really start to cover high school players and recruiting in the capacity it’s done now.  Lemming is still active in the craft and on Thursday morning shared Freeman’s profile from his 2003 edition.

It reads exactly like that of the elite recruit Freeman was when the Wayne (Dayton, Ohio) High School star took his talents to Ohio State.

Freeman will turn 36 on January 10 which just so happens to be the date of this season’s College Football Playoff championship game.

Related:

Photos Gallery – Marcus Freeman through the years

Notre Dame coaching staff tracker – who is stays and goes?

Notre Dame football coaching staff wish list

High School Sports Awards ‘Rapid Fire’ with Ohio State commit C.J. Hicks

Meet the No. 1 linebacker in Ohio’s class of 2022

USA TODAY High School Sports Awards‘ Randy Buffington catches up with C.J. Hicks, a standout linebacker out of Archbishop Alter (Ohio) and one of the top prospects in the Recruiting Rankings.

Get to know more about the future Ohio State Buckeye in this edition of “Rapid Fire.”

Want to nominate an athlete for the 2022 High School Sports Awards? Make sure to follow along on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Notre Dame Offers Top 10 ‘22 Running Back

Gi’Bran Payne, a 5-10, 190 pound running back from La Salle High School in Cincinnati was given a scholarship offer by the Fighting Irish on Thursday

One day after landing their next running back in class of 2021 commitment Logan Diggs, Notre Dame got right back after it on the recruiting trail as they made an offer to one of the top backs in the ’22 class.

Gi’Bran Payne, a 5-10, 190 pound running back from La Salle High School in Cincinnati was given a scholarship offer by the Fighting Irish on Thursday.

247Sports ranks Payne as a four-star talent and the tenth best running back nationwide in the entire 2022 recruiting class.  They also rank only four players in the entire talent-rich state of Ohio ahead of him in that class.

Payne has roughly 15 scholarship offers and on the Fourth of July named his then top ten teams which included Alabama, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan, Northwestern, Penn State, Pitt, West Virginia and Wisconsin.  It’s worth noting he did say in that announcement that his recruitment remains 100% open.

Payne averaged over 10 yards per carry as a high school sophomore, totaling 790 yards on 77 carries.  He also totaled 13 touchdowns (9 rushing, 3 receiving and an interception return) despite missing three games.

Related:  Meet Notre Dame’s 2022 Recruiting Class Commitments

Notre Dame makes cut for prized 2022 athlete/wide receiver

Notre Dame hasn’t had the best luck recruiting the wide receiver position in recent months. Perhaps that’s headed for a change here shortly

Notre Dame hasn’t had the best of luck recruiting the wide receiver position in recent months as one of the nation’s best for 2021 de-committed and the only wide receiver commitment in the 2021 class appears to be very much on the fence.

Brian Kelly and the Fighting Irish did get a small dose of good news though for 2022’s class Tuesday as one of the nation’s top athletes in Kaden Saunders revealed Notre Dame as one of his seven finalists.

Saunders says in his statement that he wants to make a commitment around his birthday in September and tells how pretty much every video conferencing app has become his way of developing relationships at potential schools.

Saunders, a four-star recruit according to 247Sports, hails from Westerville South High School in Ohio.  The 5-10, 170 pound athlete is being recruited to Notre Dame as a wide receiver.

If the Irish are going to win his commitment in a few short months they’ll have to stand out compared to Michigan, Arizona State, TCU, Penn State, Indiana and West Virginia, all who Saunders also listed in his top seven.