ONTARIO — As the clock struck zero on Ontario’s instant classic win over Shelby in the Division IV Region 14 semifinals, there was a mad dash to the Warriors’ sidelines.

It wasn’t the student section storming the field or coaches and players celebrating. It wasn’t parents and fans coming down to the field to bask in arguably the greatest football game they had ever seen.

Instead, it was a bunch of young kids sprinting to get in line to take a picture with senior quarterback Bodpegn Miller. They wanted to meet their favorite football player and tell him how they can’t wait to follow him when he heads to Columbus to be an Ohio State Buckeye next season.

But most of all, they just wanted to slap hands with the kid who just put up an all-time single-game performance. He left everything on the field and was helped off due to exhaustion after scoring the game’s final touchdown with 12 seconds left in front of a jam-packed Arlin Field of 8,625 fans.

But what they didn’t know was they were about to meet the Northwest District’s nominee for the prestigious Ohio Mr. Football Award.

On Wednesday, the Ohio Prep Sports Media Association released its nominees for Ohio Mr. Football, and Buckeye Bodpegn was among the finalists.

“It is amazing just to be nominated,” Miller said. “It is awesome and exciting and something that I don’t think I’ll ever comprehend just how much of a blessing it really is. All the hard work my teammates and I put in is why I was nominated. I have to give all of the credit to my teammates and coaches because without them making plays and the line blocking for me, none of it would be possible.”

As much as Mr. Football is an individual award, Miller would love nothing more than to have his teammates share in the nomination. It is how he has been every day as a four-year starter for the Warriors. From Day 1, Ontario coach Aaron Eckert saw Miller put his teammates ahead of himself making him the true definition of Mr. Football.

“For him to even be nominated is awesome,” Eckert said. “Someone from Ontario has never been in that position before so it is special for him to be able to display his talents and pick up an offer from Ohio State. Everything worked out for a kid that does everything the right way and is just a very, very good kid. It’s fitting and deserving and an awesome thing for Bodpegn and his family.”

Bodpegn Miller is making an impact on Ontario youth off of the field

It wasn’t the first time the younger kids had seen Bodpegn Miller in action. He was a must-see week in and week out during a record-setting season and career.

But it was where they saw him off the field that left an even bigger impact. During a middle school assembly before the start of the playoffs, Ontario High School asked Miller to speak to the entire middle school to tell his story. He donned his Ohio State T-shirt and gave a powerful speech. When he spoke, they all listened.

“That was the moment when I realized that all this is bigger than football,” Miller said. “All these kids looking up to me, and I have to make sure I use my influence in positive ways. I know I have to spread a word and make a difference. It is not about football; it is about impact. My message was simple. I started out in Ethiopia with nothing, and it doesn’t matter where you start as long as you take advantage of the opportunities in front of you. Put in the work and create your own path.”

Miller’s story is one of a kind. He was born in Ethiopia before being adopted into the United States by Alan and Deanna Miller.

Miller didn’t know English, had no idea what life was like in America and had no idea what American football was. Now, he is arguably the greatest football player in Ontario Warrior football history and could be the best high school football player in Ohio for the 2024 season.

“It sounds too good to be true,” Eckert said. “But for a kid who does everything the right way and comes from a fantastic family full of great people who make an honest living. His parents, Alan and Deanna Miller, are a blessing to him, and Bodpegn is a blessing to them. He is going to graduate with an associate’s degree. At some point, someday, it might be a movie. It is one of those stories that people will never believe is true, and yet here we are.”

And a story that Miller cannot believe is even true and can only be credited to his faith.

“It is an amazing feeling, but the best thing that these kids can do is stay humble,” Miller said. “If they stay humble and focused on their dreams and goals and put their trust in the Lord as I do, that will mean the world to me.

“It is a special and unique story that my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ wrote. The power and encouragement to do this and the ability to keep a level head and stay humble through all this is because of Him. I didn’t do it by myself.”

Miller’s funny start to love for football

Like any toddler growing up, Miller attached himself to a certain movie. Normally, kids watch cartoons on repeat hour after hour, day after day. The same movie over and over and over. For Miller, it was Adam Sandler’s The Waterboy, a football comedy.

“It still might be my favorite movie even now,” Miller said laughing. “There was something about that movie and the way the water boy went out there and lit people up just got me going and made me fall in love with football. When I first got here, I didn’t understand movies and actors and that whole concept so when Happy Gilmore came out, and when I saw the movie being played on TV, I looked at my parents and asked how Adam Sandler could be good at golf, too? I thought it was real.”

From that day forward, Miller wanted to play football.

“Regardless of where you are and what language you speak, the one thing we all understand is comedy,” Eckert said smiling. “So, it doesn’t shock me that he came over here and understood that movie. Comedy is kind of like football. It doesn’t take a ton of talking and understanding to learn the game. Throw the football, catch the football, run the football and tackle the guy with the football. I am glad he watched that movie. It is poetic justice.”

Love of football leads to historic career for Bodpegn Miller

That love for the game led him to statistically being the greatest football player in Ontario history.

He owns single-season program records in rushing yards (1,988 in 2024), passing yards (2,328 in 2023), and completion percentage (63.8% in 2023). He has the second-most rushing touchdowns in a season (21 in 2024), is second and third in TD passes (19 in 2023 and 20 in 2024).

But it is his career numbers that are insane. He is the career passing yards leader with 6,398, nearly 3,000 more yards than Mike Murry’s 3,524 set from 1991-1994. He is the passing TDs career leader with 54, 20 more than Jake Mochoskay’s 34 set from 2004-2007. He completed 453-of-728 passes for a 59.8% career completion percentage, second best in program history behind Ethan Snyder’s 60.9% set from 2017-2020.

But his rushing numbers are even more historic. With 3,601 yards, making him the all-time rushing yards leader, too, sitting ahead of Campbell’s 3,556. He is second in career rushing TDs with 47, only nine behind Campbell’s 54.

“Last year, at this point, we were a little frustrated that we didn’t have many college offers or people looking around,” Eckert said. “What a difference a year can make. He went from a very good player last year to, in my opinion, the best football player to ever come through Ontario High School and we will let everyone else argue about where he sits in Richland County history.”

He is the only player to be listed on the 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 passing yards list and is one of just four players in program history with two 1,000-yard rushing seasons and the only player in program history with three 1,000-yard passing seasons and the only one with even one 2,000-yard season let alone two.

And if you try to talk numbers with Miller, its a conversation with a dead end.

“I don’t really think about that right now,” Miller said. “All I am thinking about is going out and playing football with my boys. The stats don’t mean anything to me. I am just a kid playing football with his friends.”

Miller and his friends played football at a historic pace. In four seasons, the Ontario senior class led the Warriors to a 31-15 record, the most wins in a four-year stretch since winning 35 games from 2001-2004. But the 12 wins this season broke the single-season program record. The three playoff victories are the most in a single postseason and the first time the Warriors won more than one in the playoffs and made the first trip to the regional championship game in program history.

And that is what Miller is most proud of.

Football taught him some valuable life lessons.

“It has taught me a lot of lessons and given me opportunities I had no idea were even possible,” Miller said. “It led me to Ontario, Ohio, helped me make life-long friends and taught me the value of being humble. It has been an awesome experience.”

And it is far from over.

Miller will graduate high school early and enroll at Ohio State in January. Before that, he will take a trip back to Ethiopia to visit his birth mother and brothers to tell them his story about how he became one of the best high school football players in Ohio.

A story that is sure to inspire.

jfurr@gannett.com

740-244-9934

X: @JakeFurr11

An Ohio parent whose child was coming home from school covered in bruises from other students caught her son’s teacher badmouthing him on a Zoom call after she shared her concerns, according to a local report.

The mother had requested to meet with her 6-year-old son’s teacher at Reynolds Elementary School in Toledo because she said he came home saying he wanted to kill himself after other students allegedly beat him up during class, local ABC affiliate station 13 Action News reported.

“He was coming home with multiple bruises bloody noses. He was coming home saying he was going to kill himself. Just a numerous amount of things,” she told the station.

But instead of reassurance, the concerned parent got a damning earful from the teacher and a special education administrator who stayed on the scheduled Zoom call after the mom left the meeting, according to the outlet.

The parent, who was granted anonymity, was sent a recording and transcript of the full call — including the six minutes the teacher and administrator remained on the call after she logged off — by the school district.

In what the pair apparently believed was a private conversation, the teacher allegedly called the 6-year-old “annoying” and admitted that half of her young students say they hate their life and invoke suicide, the news station reported.

“He is annoying AF. It’s not like I don’t excuse this but I tried to tell mom this is a behavior classroom. All these kids are in here for a reason,” the teacher allegedly said.

The teacher also claimed that the child’s statements about killing himself were something he picked up from other students in the special education class.

“And he’s getting hurt and the thing about wanting to kill himself that’s a learned behavior,” the teacher reportedly said to the district administrator. “You know my class. All day long he screams, ‘I hate my life. I hate my life. I’ll kill myself’ and he did learn that in here. Half my class says that all day long,” the teacher said.

The little boy’s mom was shocked by what she heard.

“My 6-year-old saying he wanted to kill himself and it not being reported and her just saying it so calmly that’s a regular behavior in my class. It should be reported because kids are taking their lives every day,” the mother told Action News.

The teacher also allegedly spoke about another student, who was accused of beating up the parent’s child. The accused student’s name was redacted.

“[Redacted] beat him up? Oh yeah, [Redacted] is mean. Everyone always sees [Redacted] and like why is he in this class and I’m like [makes a face]… They’re like why is [Redacted] in that class because like he’s an attempted murderer,” the teacher allegedly said while laughing. “He will chase you down with his pencil.”

The Toledo school district has since launched an investigation, according to the local station.

“Toledo Public Schools is working with the administration at Reynolds Elementary to address questionable comments by two staff members following a parent meeting last Friday morning. The meeting was videotaped unbeknownst to those involved, and the district sent a link to the parent,” James Gant, Esq. Deputy Superintendent said in a statement to Action News.

“Toledo Public Schools holds its employees to the highest professional standards and will take additional and appropriate steps following the holiday, including possible disciplinary action.”

While the hurt mother said she hoped the school would do something about what happened on the call, she had already removed her son from the school, according to the outlet.

If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Every day, Ohio State linebacker Cody Simon walks past the countdown in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, a gentle reminder throughout the year of the matchup against Michigan and what’s to come in late November.

That reminder is no longer very gentle.

The Buckeyes matchup against the Wolverines on Saturday is set to take on a bit of a different tone than previous years, as 6-5 Michigan is looking to play spoiler over 10-1 Ohio State with a fourth-straight win over the Buckeyes.

But the countdown for Simon and other Ohio State seniors, more importantly, will reach 1,827 days on Saturday — the five-year stretch from Ohio State’s last win in the series in 2019 to its next potential win. It’s now the last chance for Simon, and for the entirety of the famed 2021 recruiting class, to get the job done.

“It’d just be everything,” Simon said of what a win would mean to him. “You can’t describe it with anything tangible. Just fulfillment in a lot of areas and joy for the team. And for all the seniors that came back, too.”

Senior receiver Emeka Egbuka knows exactly what he’d do after a win over Michigan, too.

“You come to Ohio State to beat The Team Up North, to win a pair of gold pants,” Egbuka said. “Just handing the gold pants to my mother is a memory I’m really looking forward to.”

That chance has never come, though. Ohio State has lost, in 2021, 2022 and 2023, to Michigan in equally deflating ways.

In 2021, it was because Michigan ran the ball at will right at, and through, Ohio State. In 2022, it was big plays allowed and three points scored in the second half that doomed the Buckeyes. And in 2023, Michigan played a mistake-free football game — with, once again, a ground-and-pound approach. Add in the sign-stealing scandal, and there’s a cloud over the last three years that no one can quite shake.

That, amongst other things, kept Egbuka and a bevy of other draft-eligible players from last year’s team on the fence about what to do with their futures. So when it came time to decide what to do for the 2024 season, the Michigan game certainly factored into the equation about nearly all of them returning for a last run.

“I think that we’re worried about what we got going on in our building,” Egbuka said. “We’re not too focused on the negative aspect of The Team Up North, but we’re focused on the positive energy and the love that we have for everybody in this building. So we’re going into that game ready to spill blood for each other because we love each other. Not necessarily going to war because we hate the other side.”

That hatred is certainly there, though. And it’s played out in part through coach Ryan Day, who has undergone the most criticism of anyone in the program since 2021.

“I think that he’s gone through a lot of things that a lot of people shouldn’t have to go through — all the scrutiny and all the stuff that people are saying about him,” Egbuka said. “But he’s a fantastic, great head coach and I wouldn’t have anybody else leading our team in the entire country. So we all have his back 100%, we’re rallying behind him and he says he wants to do this for us, but we also want to do it for him as well.”

Every player that has been around for a few years has come to the defense of Day, who has been at the center of it all — from the losses, to the sign-stealing scandal, to barbs from Michigan’s former head coach.

“He’s gone through so much, I don’t think he deserved any of that stuff he’s gone through,” Simon said. “He’s our leader, no matter he’s always standing in front of the team, and he’s taken all the heat. Taken all the bullets for everyone. If we can get this done for him, it would mean everything.”

It’s hard to encapsulate what “everything” would mean for the Buckeyes, but it also fits considering most players needed to take a beat when asked what the win would mean.

Ohio State is a program that hasn’t beaten its rival in almost 2,000 days. It has had to watch Michigan hoist a national title trophy and have the floor to make whatever comments they want.

Now, with a weakened rival and perhaps the best Ohio State team of the last four years, there’s one more chance — likely the best chance — for the Buckeye seniors to topple Michigan.

And when it comes to legacies for the Ohio State captains, beating Michigan is first on the list.

“It’s kind of hard to put into words,” Egbuka said of what playing in the rivalry is like. “I think over the last three years you kind of see the depths of the rivalry and how it affects people and all that type of stuff. So, for the most part, football is just a game, but this rivalry definitely runs deep. I think it’s hard to explain and put into words, but once you experience it, you kind of know.”