Central Ohio 2024 Storylines

[Pantherfan89]

As we approach spring break and getting into the end of the school year, what are some major headlines heading into summer workouts and the 2024 season? Which teams are you watching from the OCC, MSL, CCL, Central Buckeye League, City League to make some noise or surprise? Any major coaching openings still, or transfers of note?

 

[OccFtball]

Lot of interesting stories
In the city- can Northland repeat and win a playoff game? Or will East/Beechcroft take it
How will Bradley be after making the final 4?
Can Gahanna keep up their run? They have the qb but lose their heartbeat.
UA- made a surprising run and shut out the lions offense. They look strong this year
Will pick Central rebound or will North keep the momentum. They better rebound with that weak schedule
Bloom, reloading?

 

[The Insider]

In the OCC
expect Hilliard Bradley and Upper Arlington to be there in the end again.

In the CCL
Watterson Desales and Hartley all return a ton and look strong.

In the City League
Africentric returns a lot expect them to make some noise in the City

In the MSL
Bloom is always good expect them to the at the top of the legaue

 

[Harrycrane]

Bradley will not be there at the end ( deep regional run ) and could be 4th in the Central . UA Liberty and Coffman beat them this year. And Davidson has a good shot as well .

 

[Pantherfan89]

Lot of interesting stories
In the city- can Northland repeat and win a playoff game? Or will East/Beechcroft take it
How will Bradley be after making the final 4?
Can Gahanna keep up their run? They have the qb but lose their heartbeat.
UA- made a surprising run and shut out the lions offense. They look strong this year
Will pick Central rebound or will North keep the momentum. They better rebound with that weak schedule
Bloom, reloading?

Sayers has done as phenomenal job at Northland and would imagine would be inline for a larger job in the coming years. Same can be said with bell at east.
Bradley I would be curious to see after the departure of there qb, he was a complete difference maker.
Ua in my opinion is dangerous. Buttermore X’s and O’s can go with anyone and always seems to have UA playing at the right time of the year. Their team last year was young, they overachieved once again.
I know gahanna loses alot but they simply reload with the talent pool off havens crossing. North, Gahanna, New Albany is always a fun conference title race, grove city is young as well and I think can present problems.
In regards to Central, they always have athletes and play a very uncharacteristic scheduled. Curious to see if there offense evolves, they have a very solid junior qb.
What’s the deal with bloom? Seems they had their best class two years ago and held on last year. That area is booming, there numbers should be going up. I would think the MSL would come down to them and Hamilton Township again.
Anyone hear anything about Westerville north, are they still getting new kids to transfer in?

 

[Pantherfan89]

Bradley will not be there at the end ( deep regional run ) and could be 4th in the Central . UA Liberty and Coffman beat them this year. And Davidson has a good shot as well .

Respect to Bradley. Their defense came along way last year . I feel they are more appealing locally for Hilliard athletes that don't want to play military style offense.

 

[Harrycrane]

Respect to Bradley. Their defense came along way last year . I feel they are more appealing locally for Hilliard athletes that don't want to play military style offense.

They had a really nice year in 2023 with a three year starter at QB and a handful of experienced difference makers on both sides of the ball. But heading to 2024 they lose more than UA Liberty Coffman and Davidson. Orange has a QB with some talent who will be starting his third year. They have not been a true reload program at anytime in their existence.

 

[AHM]

They had a nice year , but they lose more than UA Liberty Coffman and Davidson. Orange has a QB with some talent who will be starting his third year. They have not been a true reload program at anytime in their existence.

Harry has no clue about high school football. Whatever he says go opposite.

Coffman will be good. Year four of Stokes culture it’s all his team now.

I expect Upper Arlington to be very good this year too.

 

[Pantherfan89]

Harry has no clue about high school football. Whatever he says go opposite.

Coffman will be good. Year four of Stokes culture it’s all his team now.

I expect Upper Arlington to be very good this year too.

What does Coffman have coming back? Stokes has done a solid job building that culture and they will be an issue in region 2.

 

[The Dock]

I guess the better way to look at the MSL/Bloom is a question of “will a Buckeye team advance past the second round of the playoffs” since it’s not really a question of “bloom gonna win it?”

BC is going to be the best shot of that happening, simply because it’s the only program in that league where its 1’s unit (both sides) progresses deep into October (whereas everyone else’s either stagnates or gets screwed up by a single injury here or there.)

 

[LouHoltz]

How improved will Newark Catholic be @The Dock (always value your post) in 2024? I caught a few games throughout last season and just not a very good NC team. Seemed like a lot of disgruntled NC fans but that may be normal for such a high profile program.

 

[The Dock]

How improved will Newark Catholic be @The Dock (always value your post) in 2024? I caught a few games throughout last season and just not a very good NC team. Seemed like a lot of disgruntled NC fans but that may be normal for such a high profile program.

I mean, I think part of the bolded thing really just boils down to it being a legacy program that doesn’t have much experience with a “waning” period. You can find some of those people being upset about losing by multiple touchdowns in the first half vs Marion Local; think they have the biggest grip on realistic football opportunities in the LCL and vs Academy & Ready while the school is currently processing the two smallest class sizes of boys in its history?

I’m not real sure how good they’ll be. It may be that their offense is not great, but defense as the calling card. D7 playoffs they’ll be fine.

 

[OccFtball]

Bloom and Hamilton will decide the MSL imo.
Orange and WestervCentral are interesting to me with their new coaches/talent. Orange will have a 3 yr starter at Qb and Central a 4 year starter.

 

[Tiger Alum]

Respect to Bradley. Their defense came along way last year . I feel they are more appealing locally for Hilliard athletes that don't want to play military style offense.

Davidson no longer plays military style offense. No options with the run game anymore. They run the ball out of the pistol formation with the RB getting 90 percent of the carries into a brick wall for gains of 1 or 2 yards. Over and over again the same thing with no success. The QB does not throw enough in that formation to keep defenses honest. Could be why they scored a TOTAL of 15 points through 3 quarters of their last 6 games. It's very easy to stop this new Davidson offense. The coaching staff is running this program into the ground if they continue to do what they have been doing. They will be at the Central Crossing level soon.

 

[watty1991]

In the OCC
expect Hilliard Bradley and Upper Arlington to be there in the end again.

In the CCL
Watterson Desales and Hartley all return a ton and look strong.

In the City League
Africentric returns a lot expect them to make some noise in the City

In the MSL
Bloom is always good expect them to the at the top of the legaue

No love for St Charles in CCL! Ha

Desales lost a lot actually IMO but might have the best QB in league.
Hartley was young last year but lacked their typical dominate Oline to bruise way through games. Great RB coming back for Hartley.
Watty lost best player in CCL in Purcell and best QB in CCL in McAnnich but return a TON. 4 Olineman return, 3 WR return, TE returns, both RB's return -- QB will be new though. Def has 2 Dlineman returning, 1 LB returning and 2 DB's returning so more new faces on Def.
St Charles - No idea

 

[ogealbhain]

No love for St Charles in CCL! Ha

Desales lost a lot actually IMO but might have the best QB in league.
Hartley was young last year but lacked their typical dominate Oline to bruise way through games. Great RB coming back for Hartley.
Watty lost best player in CCL in Purcell and best QB in CCL in McAnnich but return a TON. 4 Olineman return, 3 WR return, TE returns, both RB's return -- QB will be new though. Def has 2 Dlineman returning, 1 LB returning and 2 DB's returning so more new faces on Def.
St Charles - No idea

Who is SC's new coach?

 

[ELMIKE2K2]

No love for St Charles in CCL! Ha

Desales lost a lot actually IMO but might have the best QB in league.
Hartley was young last year but lacked their typical dominate Oline to bruise way through games. Great RB coming back for Hartley.
Watty lost best player in CCL in Purcell and best QB in CCL in McAnnich but return a TON. 4 Olineman return, 3 WR return, TE returns, both RB's return -- QB will be new though. Def has 2 Dlineman returning, 1 LB returning and 2 DB's returning so more new faces on Def.
St Charles - No idea

Did Desales QB transfer to Olentangy?

 

[OccFtball]

I think St Charles is still open?
IMO UA is the team to beat in central Ohio.
Northland the team to beat in the city
Hamilton in the msl
Watty in the ccl
Occ. UA, north Gahanna and look out for Coffman, tangy and NA

 

[watty1991]

I think St Charles is still open?
IMO UA is the team to beat in central Ohio.
Northland the team to beat in the city
Hamilton in the msl
Watty in the ccl
Occ. UA, north Gahanna and look out for Coffman, tangy and NA

I think UA solid. watch out for Pick North and Westerville north too

Northland - sure

MSL I'll take Bloom

CCL - Watty favorite probably but Hartley was young last year and if RJ day stays, that could make a difference.

 

[fussandfeathers]

Who is SC's new coach?

St Charles posted their job in January and closed it in February on OHSAA. Can't believe they haven't announced a name. Perhaps they didn't get very strong candidates?

 

[watty1991]

St Charles posted their job in January and closed it in February on OHSAA. Can't believe they haven't announced a name. Perhaps they didn't get very strong candidates?

Hard place to win but easy to coach as great kids and families.

 

[hdvhsmgr]

https://footballscoop.com/news/update-at-birmingham-southern-anthony-colucci

Wasn't expecting this when I started reading it.

 

[WJ-OSU-STEELERS]

A lot of discussion regarding St Charles football for a team since 1972 with a record of 26-126-2 (17.53%) vs CCL foes Watterson, DeSales, Hartley & Ready.

Glad to see the guy get a job and glad to see St Charles get what appears to be a good coach this late in the hiring process. Now for the difficult part, winning games.

 

[The Insider]

You cant fault Saint Charles for trying to figure it out. The Jacoby experiment was an embarrasing failure but it made sense at the time. Now hiring a college head coach. Can he win the recruiting battles with the other CCL schools?

Is there any avenue for Saint Charles to become more competitive in the CCL?

Watterson is loaded and wont be slowing down any time soon. Their current Freshmen class might be the strongest that Watty has ever seen

Hartley was young and seems to have a lot of talent coming. As long as Brad and Sawyer are there they will alway be in the mix at the state level.

Desales might be ripe for the picking? Anyone who has seen them the past couple of years can see that something seems 'off' with them. They arent as good. They seem to have slipped and looked to keep slipping? Looking at their low numbers last year was staggering.

 

[ogealbhain]

You cant fault Saint Charles for trying to figure it out. The Jacoby experiment was an embarrasing failure but it made sense at the time. Now hiring a college head coach. Can he win the recruiting battles with the other CCL schools?

Is there any avenue for Saint Charles to become more competitive in the CCL?

Watterson is loaded and wont be slowing down any time soon. Their current Freshmen class might be the strongest that Watty has ever seen

Hartley was young and seems to have a lot of talent coming. As long as Brad and Sawyer are there they will alway be in the mix at the state level.

Desales might be ripe for the picking? Anyone who has seen them the past couple of years can see that something seems 'off' with them. They arent as good. They seem to have slipped and looked to keep slipping? Looking at their low numbers last year was staggering.

As the parent of SC student(s) (don't play football), my answer to the bolded is "no" depending on what "more competitive" means.

 

[watty1991]

You cant fault Saint Charles for trying to figure it out. The Jacoby experiment was an embarrasing failure but it made sense at the time. Now hiring a college head coach. Can he win the recruiting battles with the other CCL schools?

Is there any avenue for Saint Charles to become more competitive in the CCL?

Watterson is loaded and wont be slowing down any time soon. Their current Freshmen class might be the strongest that Watty has ever seen

Hartley was young and seems to have a lot of talent coming. As long as Brad and Sawyer are there they will alway be in the mix at the state level.

Desales might be ripe for the picking? Anyone who has seen them the past couple of years can see that something seems 'off' with them. They arent as good. They seem to have slipped and looked to keep slipping? Looking at their low numbers last year was staggering.

SC is a tough "sell" if the student is focused on football. Not only the difficulty academically but its largest competitors (Watterson) offers one of the best coaching staffs in Ohio and a community that backs it with everything they got.

 

[FballFan91]

Bloom and Hamilton will decide the MSL imo.
Orange and WestervCentral are interesting to me with their new coaches/talent. Orange will have a 3 yr starter at Qb and Central a 4 year starter.

I think these are the 2 OCC teams that I will really pay the most attention too! At WC, how big of a jump is the D7 to D1 going to be for their new HC? Most people will say, football is football. And that is true, but dealing with a large team and all the extras that come with that, could be interesting!

At O. Orange, new HC that made some waves at Granville, now he is at a big time school that needs to rebound! Someone else pointed out the 3 year starter there, plus some decent pieces around him. Is the new HC going to be able to handle the pressure when there are some great teams around him? Pretty sure he made a few deep playoff runs at Granville. Similar to the WC situation, how will he handle the bump in talent?

 

[The Dock]

You cant fault Saint Charles for trying to figure it out. The Jacoby experiment was an embarrasing failure but it made sense at the time.

Jeff Pharion won the CCL outright in 2013. Two years later he was fired, making room for Jacoby in the process.

I guess it can be debated how much of his hiring made sense. Going from a neighborhood co-ed that deeply embraces the value of competitive sports, to the all-boys school that relentlessly prefers the “well-rounded” extracurriculars image (despite having way less students than X and Iggy) is deeper than X’s and O’s. Just like going from DeSales to small working-class/rural places like Hamilton Twp, or DeSales (via HT) to massive working class exurbs like Hamilton.

If the braintrust at SC saw Jacoby/SFD and only looked at the sole common denominator of “we’re CCL just like them, thus expect his success to be transferable” then that’s just hubris. No consideration of how football competitiveness requires certain mores within the school-community, no evaluation on what is realistic for the program (ceilings and floors), and frankly not realizing that having X/Walsh Jesuit caliber competitiveness in some sports doesn’t mean football can automatically be above the level of a Toledo St. John(‘s.)

 

[The Dock]

I guess it can be debated how much of his hiring made sense. Going from a neighborhood co-ed that deeply embraces the value of competitive sports, to the all-boys school that relentlessly prefers the “well-rounded” extracurriculars image (despite having way less students than X and Iggy) is deeper than X’s and O’s.

Going to expand on this, holistically.

It’s possible to have both a consistently mediocre-to-respectable football program and the pedigree of success elsewhere for the student body to channel, for the school to promote and the school-community to take pride in. Expecting to have the 1:1 “football is really good, just like everything else we have” on the private side requires enrollment. Enrollment to support the depth necessary to be competitive (good) at football. Which St Charles historically has not had.

How much of this is school mores, how much of it is the history of the school being the traditionally more expensive and academically rigorous player in the Catholic HS marketplace, how much of it is the fact it doesn’t have a dedicated feeder school via the Diocesan attendance zoning, it probably is an even spread. It’s a big principal put together, accruing significant interest overtime. Creates a hard loan to overcome when the program has zero playoff wins.

The 2010’s is when we saw a big divergence between the football prowess of the two eastside Catholic schools. It’s hard not to see a root of this being Hartley getting the far higher yields of boys (with the talent to follow) from St. Catherine and SPX (the two parish schools on the eastside with the realistic opportunity to meaningfully supplement and enhance SC’s northerly enrollment.) Hartley isn’t the school after all that permeates the “yeah our freshman classes annually have ~20% attrition by January, so what?” notion. SC is. Not making a judgment as to whether it’s entirely good or bad, but it definitely isn’t helpful for football purposes. Have families that are reluctant to pull the trigger on a more-expensive option with higher rigor, because they don’t know if it’s the best school fit for their son (and this can be for other reasons outside of academics) or the finances*logistics of their family if they have boys&girls bunched together closely can happen (or is worth the trade-off), the neighborhood co-ed that is less expensive with closer-to-normal academic standards will win the student game with more rewards in certain places to follow.

 

[The Insider]

Going to expand on this, holistically.

It’s possible to have both a consistently mediocre-to-respectable football program and the pedigree of success elsewhere for the student body to channel, for the school to promote and the school-community to take pride in. Expecting to have the 1:1 “football is really good, just like everything else we have” on the private side requires enrollment. Enrollment to support the depth necessary to be competitive (good) at football. Which St Charles historically has not had.

How much of this is school mores, how much of it is the history of the school being the traditionally more expensive and academically rigorous player in the Catholic HS marketplace, how much of it is the fact it doesn’t have a dedicated feeder school via the Diocesan attendance zoning, it probably is an even spread. It’s a big principal put together, accruing significant interest overtime. Creates a hard loan to overcome when the program has zero playoff wins.

The 2010’s is when we saw a big divergence between the football prowess of the two eastside Catholic schools. It’s hard not to see a root of this being Hartley getting the far higher yields of boys (with the talent to follow) from St. Catherine and SPX (the two parish schools on the eastside with the realistic opportunity to meaningfully supplement and enhance SC’s northerly enrollment.) Hartley isn’t the school after all that permeates the “yeah our freshman classes annually have ~20% attrition by January, so what?” notion. SC is. Not making a judgment as to whether it’s entirely good or bad, but it definitely isn’t helpful for football purposes. Have families that are reluctant to pull the trigger on a more-expensive option with higher rigor, because they don’t know if it’s the best school fit for their son (and this can be for other reasons outside of academics) or the finances*logistics of their family if they have boys&girls bunched together closely can happen (or is worth the trade-off), the neighborhood co-ed that is less expensive with closer-to-normal academic standards will win the student game with more rewards in certain places to follow.

Cost doesnt seem to be a factor in choosing or not choosing St Charles. All of the tuitions of the Franklin County schools are within 1,000 dollars.

Is St Charles the only all boys school in Ohio that is terrible in football? Off the top of my head I say yes. That is incredible if true.