The 2025 high school football season will begin the homestretch this week, with the seventh game on tap as teams continue to jockey for position in both the conferences and the postseason picture.
Two teams will also celebrate Homecoming this weekend.
Here is a look at the matchups:
London (1-0 CBC, 6-0) at Bellefontaine (1-0 CBC, 3-3)
Bellefontaine is coming off a hard fought and dramatic 23-21 win over Kenton Ridge and gets to remain home this week.
Rolling into AcuSport Stadium will be London, who are tied for first in the Kenton Trail division with Jonathan Alder.
Sophomore Reign St. Clair continues to build up experience at quarterback. For the season, he has completed 98 of 159 passes for 1,140 yards with four touchdowns and four interceptions.
Carter Caudill has been the workhorse on the ground with 120 carries for 679 yards. Bryant Carter has gained 133 yards on 24 carries.
The passing attack has been divided among multiple targets. Currently in the lead is Spencer Stolly with 36 catches for 372 yards, while Sutton Daring has 22 for 230.
Patrick Stolly (15 for 171) and Kaiden Foulk (13 for 191) also will be involved.
Leading tacklers are Caudill (71), Karsen Drake (43) and Cayleb Overmann (39).
The Red Raiders had a close call in the opener, edging New Albany 14-11. Since then they have scored over 40 points in every game.
They have wins over Chillicothe (53-14), Franklin Heights (56-14), Indian Lake (44-14), Graham (42-0) and Urbana (47-0).
They are currently second in the Region 12 computer rankings, just behind Tippecanoe. Bellefontaine is 13th in this week’s rankings. The top 12 teams in each region will qualify for the playoffs.
Coach Jason Brown of Bellefontaine said that London “excels at the line of scrimmage and it’s hard to emulate what they do in practice.”
He noted the coaches will work to prepare the team and “get the kids in the best position to find success.”
The Chieftains have 12 takeaways on defense so far, with six fumbles and six interceptions.
Senior Blake Reay has completed 11 of 16 passes for 177 yards on the year with one touchdown.
The leading rusher is Daquanne Parks with 647 yards on 78 carries and 13 touchdowns.
Senior Kyler Russell has 38 for 429 (6 TD), sophomore Bryston Toronto 38 for 464 (7 TD) and Reay has kept it 36 times for 247 yards with three scores.
Kicker Eli Noble has made three field goals, the longest being 37 yards.
Top tacklers are linebacker Vance Moerch (43), defensive back Jaydon Cooper (41) and linebacker Isaiah Near (40).
Bellefontaine travels to Tecumseh next Friday night.
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Shawnee (0-1 CBC, 0-6) at Indian Lake (1-0 CBC, 4-2)
The Lakers will celebrate homecoming with a game against Shawnee. They have won two in a row including the first division game of the season last week, 17-14 over North Union.
Brady Golliday has completed 65 percent of his passes, going 86 of 131 for 1,124 yards. He has 13 touchdowns and two interceptions.
On the other end of the throws have been Brodey Reisinger (41-619, 9 TD) and Colin Bendler (20-233, 3 TD), along with Gavin Henry (14-162, 1 TD).
Golliday has run it 76 times for 364 yards and scored three times, while Noah Shirk has 86 carries for 607 yards and eight TDs.
In the OHSAA rankings, Indian Lake is seventh in Region 20, just ahead of West Liberty-Salem.
The Braves are still looking for their first win. They lost to Greenon (34-14) and Brookville (49-7) in nonconferene action, then fell to Tecumseh (14-12), Kenton Ridge (42-14), Jonathan Alder (55-20) and Northwestern (28-13).
QB Derek Boehmer has 100 completions on 156 throws for 1,118 yards, with nine touchdowns and seven picks.
Top rushers for Shawnee are Zain DeWeese (63 for 241, 2 TD) and Julian Dixon (31 for 162, 1 TD).
Braylon Haddock (26-269), Dixon (23-318), Eric Walters (16-160), DeWeese (15-176) and Alex Spencer (14-168) have divided up the receiving.
Those leading the way on defense are DeWeese (49), Caleb Coppess (34) and Corey Ohlinger (32).
Next Friday, the Lakers take on rival Ben Logan.
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North Union (0-1 CBC, 3-3) at Ben Logan (0-1 CBC, 3-3)
Ben Logan is looking to rebound after a close loss to Graham last Friday with a Homecoming win over the Wildcats.
Wyatt Predmore has hit 50 of 83 passes for 597 yards on the season, with four touchdowns and five interceptions.
He also leads the rushing department with 75 carries for 358 yards and three scores.
Helping share the load are Diesel Baughman (74-472, 7 TD), Jordan Pender (57-283, 1 TD) and Alex Hassell (27-110, 6 TD).
Cayden Brown leads the receivers with 20 catches for 333 yards and two TDs. Hassell has 11 for 104, while Brandon Heater and Andrew Fredrick are both over 100 yards for the season as well.
Heater has made 5 of his 9 field goal attempts.
The Raiders defense has leaned on Everett Clapsaddle and Cooper Buck, who both have 52 tackles, along with Hayden Hites (43) and Dan Koehler (40).
North Union had a loss to Pleasant (16-13) followed by wins over Liberty Union (44-14) and Northmor (19-13). In league play, they lost to Alder (42-23), beat Urbana (46-27) and fell to Indian Lake (17-14).
Nick Hajjar is 59 of 85 passing for 690 yards, with eight touchdowns and four interceptions.
Griffin Osborne is the leading receiver (23-296, 3 TD) and second highest rusher (62-346, 4 TD).
Nick VanHoose has 84 runs for 477 yards and Wyatt Arver 27 for 196.
Other receivers are Dainon Lindsey (13-173, 3 TD) and Arver (12-116 ,1 TD).
Brycen Delawder (59), Trenor Kate (47) and VanHoose (42) will be the ones to keep track of on defense.
Ben Logan is presently ranked 11th in Region 14.
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West Liberty-Salem (1-0 OHC, 4-2) at Northeastern (0-1 OHC, 5-1 overall)
Over in the Ohio Heritage Conference, West Liberty-Salem rolled over Fairbanks 42-0 for its first conference victory.
They will hit the road this week and look to keep or improve their spot in the Region 20 rankings. They are eighth this week.
Beckett Sullivan is 51 of 91 for 589 yards with eight scores and four interceptions at quarterback.
His main target continues to be Reese Oder with 25 grabs for 264 yards and getting to the end zone twice.
Corbin Wallace is over 100 carries, with 111 for 521 yards and four TDs.
Sam Strapp has racked up 48 tackles, with 19 by Dustin Bolton and 17 each for Carson Poppe and Aiden Hull.
Northeastern started out with wins over Urbana (35-28) and Riverside (36-8). They followed those with three more victories — Greeneview (32-0), Southeastern (48-2) and Madison Plains (60-18).
That streak ended last week against West Jefferson, as they lost 42-36.
At quarterback for the Jets is Diesel Taylor (59 of 80, 1,191 yards) who has 18 touchdowns and just one interception.
The top receivers are Jake Newman (28-701, 12 TD); Kaleb Moone (14-316, 5 TD) and Jackson Jones (10-84, 1 TD).
Coudy Houseman has 102 rushes for 865 yards and seven scores, with Taylor keeping it 46 times for 219 yards and Jones running 35 for 197 and four TDs.
Houseman (78 tackles) and Jones (73) are also big threats on defense.
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Northridge (0-3 TRC, 1-5) at Riverside (2-1 TRC, 3-3)
Riverside spends a second straight week at Veterans Memorial Stadium and will face Northridge.
They have won three of four after dropping their first two contests.
In the Region 28 rankings, the Pirates are 12th, between Cedarville and Minster.
Brody Orsborne is 27 of 68 passing for 403 yards with one TD and two pickoffs.
Gunner Carpenter (91-409) and Tony Robinson (82-433) are good runners with six touchdowns for each, and pass catchers with Robinson at 121 yards and Carpenter at 60, and six receptions for both.
Dylan Trimble has 55 carries for 281 yards and Justin Mazariegos six catches for 90 yards.
Grady Jenkins (67), Gabe Steineman (33) and Robinson (32) lead in tackles.
For the Polar Bears, their only win was a forfeit over Stivers in the first week. Since then, they have lost to Kenton Ridge (34-0), Brookville (42-15), Lehman Catholic (34-16), Milton Union (21-14) and Miami East (44-8).
Sulaiman Muhammed has 252 yards passing (27-52, 3 INT) and 334 yards rushing (37 carries, 2 TD).
Trevon Rowe has 40 carries for 265 yards, while the top receiver is Tie-in Hill (8-86).
The leading tackler is Cameron Moss with 65.
Next Friday the Pirates will visit Troy Christian.
