“They’re a really good football team,” said Kenton Ridge coach Jon Daniels. “They’re the big bad wolf in our conference right now. They’re the team everyone is chasing and for good reason.”
Last week, Kenton Ridge beat Jonathan Alder for the first time since the Pioneers joined the Central Buckeye Conference in 2017. The Cougars trailed 27-21 midway through the fourth quarter and rallied to beat the Pioneers 28-27 in Plain City.
“It’s an awesome win for our kids,” Daniels said. “The way it went down is probably even better. It was one of those deals where it was a whole team effort. We made plays on special teams, had to withstand plays defensively and offense possessed the ball — all those things were really nice to see. It was nice to see our kids weather the storm on the road and make big plays. It was really cool to see.”
Junior Xavier White returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown to give Kenton Ridge a one-point lead in the fourth quarter. On the first play of Jonathan Alder’s next possession, White intercepted a pass to seal the victory for Kenton Ridge.
London has dominated the CBC Kenton Trail over the last four years, going 17-1 since the 2021 season. Their lone division loss came to Tecumseh in 2022. They went 5-0 last year, but fell to Bellefontaine in a Division III, Region 12 playoff game.
Kenton Ridge is seeking its first CBC title since 2014. The Cougars are currently one game back of London and are tied with Bellefontaine for second place in the division. The Red Raiders beat the Chieftains 51-6 on Sept. 27.
“We’ve got to go out and play really well and have some breaks go our way,” Daniels said. “We’ve got to play our best football yet. … I don’t know if we played our best football last Friday, but we were able to survive it. We can’t do that this week. We’ve got to play our best football.”
The Red Raiders haven’t allowed more than eight points in a game all season. They’re outscoring their opponents by an average 53.3 points per game through eight weeks this season.
Offensively, London is led by two of the top running backs in the CBC in senior Noah Sollars (724 yards, 14 TDs) and sophomore Daquanne Parks (671 yards, 11 TDs).
“You’ve got to find a way to play your best football right now,” Daniels said. “If you’re just focused on product the entire time, you’re going to put yourself in a bad spot. When you play a team like London, they’re going to have some really good products on you and you’ve got to weather that and find a way to have success yourself. Our message has been the same to our kids — 1-0 is our entire focus. Let’s get process-oriented this week and really become the best versions of ourselves because if we make the same mistakes we made a week ago, it’s not going to end the way we obviously want it to.”
The Cougars are in the hunt to qualify for the postseason for the first time since 2015. They’re currently ranked seventh in the Division IV, Region 16 playoff standings.
“This week is about going out and giving London everything we’ve got, playing our best ball and surviving some of the stuff they do to see what the end result is,” Daniels said. “Let’s see if we can get to the fourth quarter where the game is on the line.”
Next week, KR hosts another strong opponent in Bellefontaine (6-2, 2-1), which is led by Ohio State University recruit Tavian St. Clair.
“There’s nothing easy at this point,” Daniels said. “It’s playoff football every week. It’s survive and advance and continuing to find ways to grow. Some teams become stagnant after a certain point in the season. They’ve reached what they’re going to do and they don’t necessarily grow as much any more. That can’t be us right now. We’ve got to keep climbing the mountain and putting ourselves in a position to where we’re playing in Week 11 this year. We want to be playing our best ball when that happens.”
PREP FOOTBALL
WEEK 9
Friday’s Games
Fairmont at Springfield
London at Kenton Ridge
Indian Lake at Northwestern
Benjamin Logan at Shawnee
Urbana at Tecumseh
Catholic Central at Greeneview
Cedarville at Greenon
Southeastern at Madison-Plains
Mechanicsburg at Northeastern
North Union at Graham
West Liberty-Salem at Triad
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