Ohio
Three central Ohio high school boys soccer teams to play for OHSAA state titles
The Dublin Jerome, Watterson and Worthington Christian boys soccer teams will play for state championships, while St. Charles and Westerville Central saw their seasons end in one-goal semifinal losses. Here are recaps from all central Ohio games Nov. 5.
Dublin Jerome to play for first state title
The Celtics posted their fifth consecutive shutout and 13th for the season, defeating Cincinnati St. Xavier 5-0 in a Division I semifinal at Springfield.
After losing in its first three trips to the state semifinals, Jerome (14-3-5) will play for its first state championship at 7 p.m. Nov. 10 against Cleveland St. Ignatius at Historic Crew Stadium.
“This is our fourth state semi, and it’s pretty sweet to be able to make the final with this group,” Jerome coach Nate Maust said. “This is just a tough group. It’s been an up-and-down season. We’ve had some really good moments, and I think we’re just obviously coming together at the right time.”
St. Xavier (12-5-4) couldn’t get much going against a Jerome defense that has allowed only 12 goals this season.
“They have tough, big, strong defenders,” Bombers coach Brian Schaeper said. “They really trust those back defenders. There were opportunities to capitalize on it. We didn’t, but yeah, they’re good players.”
Patty Breedlove, Crew Maust, Brady Delmore and Josh Stibel scored for Jerome.
The game was a rematch of 2005 state semifinal, when the Bombers won in penalty kicks after a scoreless draw. Maust was Jerome’s coach, having served in the role since the school opened in 2004.
“These guys weren’t born yet in ’05,” Maust said. “So it’s pretty cool that they get a chance to be the first team in (Jerome) history, for boys, to make it to the state final.”
–James Weber, Cincinnati Enquirer
St. Ignatius edges St. Charles for second consecutive season
For the second consecutive season, St. Ignatius’ road to a state title could potentially go through St. Charles.
A year after losing to the Wildcats 1-0 in double overtime in the state final, St. Charles again lost to St. Ignatius by a 1-0 score, this time in a state semifinal at Bellville Clear Fork.
“This stings right now,” St. Charles coach Chris Vonau said. “Maybe we’ll feel better later. … Hats off to St. Ignatius. They’re a solid opponent every year and they always come prepared. We threw some things at them that they hadn’t seen. We frustrated them a little bit. Sometimes you get bounces and sometimes you don’t.”
The Wildcats (18-0-2) scored early in the second half as Domenic Ruggiero raced in against goalie Eli Wichlinski and beat the freshman to his right with 38:19 remaining.
St. Charles (12-6-3) pressured the St. Ignatius defense and junior goalie Johnny Mulloy numerous times in the second half.
Solid scoring chances for the Cardinals included Mason Taylor’s shot that sailed just over the top of the net, Ryan Sullivan’s corner kick that went through a crowd and wide of the net and Mickey Hulme’s shot that was tipped wide of the net, resulting in a corner kick.
“Every year, it’s different journey,” St. Ignatius coach Mike McLaughlin said. “Every year it’s full of games that you get stretched, and you see what you’re made of. It’s our games against St. Charles that are the games that are the hardest games we have every season. They were really good tonight, as we expected them to be.”
Last season, St. Ignatius won the state title on Bryce Ince-Loveless goal with 1 second remaining in the second overtime.
St. Charles senior defender Grant Brokaw said it provided motivation throughout this season.
“In the back of our minds at all times throughout this season it was every second counts after last year,” Brokaw said. “You always want to be a play ahead and always makes the extra effort when you can. It’s not the result we wanted, but we definitely left it out on the field.”
Wichlinski capped a strong first season with the Cardinals, finishing with five save.
“Eli is special, but so is everybody on the team,” Vonau said. “We played with a young group, and it didn’t show tonight. We were very mature, prepared, resilient, strong, battle-tested. They played well beyond their years.”
–Frank DiRenna
Davis goal sends Watterson to state final
Watterson junior Grayson Davis had missed two days of school with a cold. In a Division III state semifinal against Hamilton Badin at Wright State, he didn’t miss his moment, heading in a free kick from Sam Meacham with 10:39 left in overtime for a 1-0 win that sent the Eagles to their first state final since 2013.
“We’ve been working the whole season for this,” Davis said. “From the guys who didn’t play a second to the guys who played the whole time, it was such a team effort.”
Watterson was aggressive from the opening kick, using a methodical build-up to constantly threaten Badin’s back line and keeper Cole Parr, who had allowed just nine goals all season and made several crucial saves in regulation.
“(Parr) stood on his head. My hat goes off to him,” Watterson coach Aaron Linden said. “I thought it should have been two in regulation, at least, but he played really, really well.”
Badin had several chances, but the Rams’ offense was hurt by the absence of Joe Jung, who sat out after picking up a red card in the regional semifinal. Whenever the Rams did make it into the attacking third, they were turned back by Alex Das, Davis, Eli Pham and Connor Adkins-Davidson.
Meacham had two golden chances in the final 15 minutes of regulation but was turned back by Parr both times. When he got the instructions for the game-winning free kick, the third time was a charm for his right foot.
“(Meachem) puts in great balls and I usually go front post,” Davis said. “It’s easy for me to read because we’ve played together for so long.”
The Eagles will face Aurora at 7 p.m. Nov. 9 at Historic Crew Stadium.
–Brendan Connelly, Cincinnati Enquirer
Westerville Central’s unprecedented season ends with OT loss
As historic for both programs as a Division II state semifinal was at London, it was not a game for the statistically minded.
Neither Central nor Kings Mills Kings put a shot directly on net for the first 70:30, until Kings midfielder Sam Wik mustered a shot that was stopped by Warhawks goalie Bryan Ramirez.
A few free kicks were about the most action Ramirez got through the game’s first 109 minutes, and a leaping save to his left with a minute left in the second overtime looked like it might send the game to penalty kicks. But after Ramirez directed a shot wide off his outstretched left hand, Kings forward Kevin Cyrus headed in the winning goal off a corner at the 58.3-second mark to give the Knights a 1-0 victory.
“We settled in in the second half and played the way we practiced (and) are meant to play, moving the ball and getting guys forward,” Central coach Hunter Robertson said. “We just didn’t create enough chances. It just took too long for us to settle into the game. They played really well. Their style is aggressive and they play numbers forward.”
Central (14-5-3), which got three saves from Ramirez, was in its first state tournament.
Kings (15-2-4) will play Avon in the final at 1 p.m. Nov. 9 at Historic Crew Stadium. The Knights’ only previous trip to state, in 1995, ended in a semifinal loss.
“(Ramirez) made a heck of a save,” Cyrus said of the play that set up the corner. “I asked my other teammate, Royce Hawkins, to set a screen for me; that’s called ‘pickles’ (where) he sets a screen for me to get free and run to the near post,” Cyrus said. “Zach dropped it right to my head and I got it in the goal.”
Ramirez finished with three saves for Central, which upset defending state champion and OCC-Ohio rival New Albany 1-0 on Nov. 2 to win its first regional title.
“Our players are the ones that did this,” Robertson said. “I just tried to help them become the best versions of themselves.”
–Dave Purpura
Worthington Christian rolls into Division IV final
Max Glick, Colton Hoskinson and Nolan Schoonover scored in a 2:44 span of the first half, breaking open a Division IV state semifinal at Logan and sending Worthington Christian (18-3-2) past previously undefeated Wheelersburg (18-1-2) 3-0.
The Warriors outshot Wheelersburg 14-0 in the first half in reaching their third consecutive state final.
Worthington Christian will play Bay Village Bay in the final at 4 p.m. Nov. 9 at Historic Crew Stadium. The Warriors have been state runner-up each of the past two years, in Division IV last season and Division III in 2023, and are seeking their first championship since 2011.
–Dave Purpura
OHSAA boys soccer state semifinal scores
(All games Nov. 5)
Division I: Dublin Jerome 5, Cincinnati St. Xavier 0; Cleveland St. Ignatius 1, St. Charles 0
Division II: Kings Mills Kings 1, Westerville Central 0 (2OT); Avon 2, Brecksville-Broadview Heights 1 (OT)
Division III: Watterson 1, Hamilton Badin 0 (OT); Aurora 1, Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy 0(OT)
Division IV: Worthington Christian 3, Wheelersburg 0; Bay Village Bay 2, Cincinnati Wyoming 1 (2OT)
Division V: Cincinnati Summit Country Day 2, Fairbanks 1 (OT); Ottawa Hills 1, Kidron Central Christian 0
OHSAA boys soccer state final schedule
(All games at Historic Crew Stadium)
Division I: Dublin Jerome vs. Cleveland St. Ignatius, 7 p.m. Nov. 10
Division II: Avon vs. Kings Mills Kings, 1 p.m. Nov. 9
Division III: Watterson vs. Aurora, 7 p.m. Nov. 9
Division IV: Worthington Christian vs. Bay Village Bay, 4 p.m. Nov. 9
Division V: Cincinnati Summit Country Day vs. Ottawa Hills, 4 p.m. Nov. 10
Out of prison, Indiana’s caviar king back on Ohio River to find fishing holes taken
David Cox, of English, Indiana, says once he began setting his nets again after a two-year prison sentence and a three-year ban on commercial fishing, all of his once-secret spots were taken.
Can you eat fish from the Ohio River?
In 1975, future presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, then governor of Massachusetts, bet 20 pounds of New England cod that the Red Sox would defeat the Reds in the World Series. If things went south for Boston, Ohio governor James Rhodes promised to send Dukakis 10 pounds of Lake Erie perch and 10 pounds of Ohio River catfish. The Reds ended up winning and the cod was sent to the Convalescent Home for Children, in Cincinnati.
At the time, people were still eating catfish from the Ohio without too much concern. The fish were also served at several restaurants along the river.
There were warnings in 1977
But two years later, in 1977, The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission released the results of a study of contaminants found in the tissues of Ohio River fish. They warned anglers in cities such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, Wheeling and Gallipolis that man-made chemicals known as PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, had been discovered in the river fish. Later, high concentrations of mercury were discovered in the fish, too.
Thanks to the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the environmental regulations that followed, the river is now cleaner than it was in the seventies. And it’s still teeming with a variety of fish, including catfish, striped bass, drum and black bass, among other species.
But even though PCBs were banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1979, they are still found in fish, since they remain in the sediment in the bottom of the river. “Organisms live in the sediment and fish feed on them,” Rich Cogen, the executive director of the Ohio River Foundation told The Enquirer. Mercury is also a big problem, according to Cogen.
So the question is: Can you eat fish caught in the Ohio River?
The short answer is yes. But it depends on what species you are eating and where along the river you caught it.
There are also very strict limitations on how frequently you should eat them, according to the web site for the Ohio Sport Fish Consumption Advisory, part of the Ohio Department of Health.
In areas of the river between the Belleville Lock, located 204 miles downstream from the river’s origins in Pittsburgh, to the Indiana border, the advisory agency currently recommends consuming Ohio River fish no more than once a month max. That area includes Adams, Brown, Clermont, Gallia, Hamilton, Lawrence, Meigs and Scioto counties.
Here’s where to check
Recommendations change throughout the year, but you can keep up by visiting the Ohio Department of Health’s Sport Fish Consumption Advisory page, which provides updated information on when certain fish, usually bottom feeders such as carp, are deemed too dangerous to eat at all.
Here’s who should take a pass on Ohio River fish
The agency also warns that people who are more likely to have health effects from eating contaminated fish, includingchildren younger than 15 years old, pregnant women and women who are planning to become pregnant to avoid Ohio River fish altogether.
Just because you have to limit the amount of fish you eat, doesn’t mean the river is a bad place for fishing, as long as you limit your intake or do catch-and-release fishing. Just make sure you have a proper fishing license before casting your line.
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It isn’t over until it’s over. That’s the case for both the UCLA Bruins football program recruiting and for quarterback Brady Edmunds. Edmunds is currently committed to head to Ohio State but he took a visit from UCLA offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy earlier this week.
Kennedy met Edmunds on Thursday despite the fact that the quarterback has been committed to the Buckeyes since December of 2024 but could the UCLA Bruins be making a run at flipping the quarterback?
Edmunds has only had an official visit with Ohio State but could UCLA heave a heat check on the 6’5” quarterback? New UCLA head coach Bob Chesney is off to an unbelievable start to his recruiting with the Bruins and flipping a recruit of Edmunds’ caliber would be his most impressive move yet.
247 Sports has Edmunds as the No. 16 quarterback in the class, which would give UCLA a clear predecessor for Nico Iamaleava whenever the Bruins current starting quarterback decides to head to the professional level.
It’d be a full circle moment for the Bruins, as Edmunds was originally recruited to Ohio State by former UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, who bailed on UCLA to go run the Buckeyes offense. Ohio State is a great spot for a developing quarterback, as the Buckeyes produce tons of NFL talent, especially at the wide receiver position, which would help Edmunds put up some gaudy numbers in Columbus.
Chesney and the Bruins have geography on their side, Edmunds attends Huntington Beach High School in Southern California, which could potentially become a factor if Edmunds views UCLA as a program on the rise that’d be much closer to his friends and family than out in Ohio.
Time will tell if Kennedy’s visit will make a difference but UCLA’s recruiting has made waves in the first offseason under Chesney and the new regime.
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