Ohio Heritage Conference preview: North Division up for grabs

SPRINGFIELD — The Ohio Heritage Conference North Division was as strong as ever last season, sending four teams to the playoffs — and four all advanced to the second round.

West Liberty-Salem (10-2) and West Jefferson (12-2) shared the league title at 4-1, while Northeastern and Mechanicsburg finished tied for second at 3-2.

With a strong group of returners and new faces this fall, the division race will be a gauntlet again when conference play begins on Sept. 27.

“I don’t think there’s a down team this year,” said Northeastern coach Jake Buchholtz. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the OHC North champion had two losses this year. It’s ultimately going to come down to who’s healthiest in that back half of the season.”

Northeastern returns multiple skill players this fall, including dynamic senior Garrett Chadwell, who will move to slot receiver after playing running back the past three seasons. He tallied 1,275 all-purpose yards and 11 TDs last season, including two punt return touchdowns.

“He’s our Mr. Do-it-all,” Buchholtz said. “It allows us to get him the ball multiple ways. We’ll have him in our run game and pass game. He’s a really special kid for us all around. He’s our punt returner, kick returner and strong side linebacker. I’m really excited to see him now that he’s a senior. We’re going to find ways to get him the ball.”

The Jets also return junior quarterback Diezel Taylor, who threw for 1,423 yards and 12 TDs and rushed for 743 yards and nine TDs in his first year as the starter.

“It was a big learning process for him,” Buchholtz said. “We’re excited for him to have a full year of experience under his best. He’s trained really hard.”

The Jets also return junior running backs Jackson Jones (1,092 rushing yards, nine TDs) and Cody Houseman. The program has 33 players this fall, including 22 upperclassmen.

The rest of the league is bringing back several talented teams, including:

West Jefferson, which fell to Sugarcreek Garaway in the D-V, Region 23 final, returns junior quarterback Austin Buescher threw for 3,747 yards and 38 touchdowns last season.
West Liberty-Salem returns 17 seniors from last year’s team.
Mechanicsburg, which returns 16 upperclassmen, has qualified for the playoffs for 11 straight seasons.
Triad returns senior running back Awesome Mitchell (1,290 yards, 11 TDs) and senior quarterback Cayden Everhart (690 yards, two TDs), both three-year varsity players.
Fairbanks has a new coach in Dave Carroll, who went 87-32 in 11 seasons at Urbana.

The key to winning the conference, Buchholtz said, will be staying injury free.

“Ultimately, things are going to come down to who’s healthy at the end of the season,” Buchholtz said. “That’s the thing about the OHC — 11-on-11 it’s some of the best football in the area. The problem with small schools or us at least is just the roster sizes. If you get one or two injuries, it’s really hard to overcome those things in our league.”

The Jets are seeking their fifth consecutive playoff appearance this fall. They’ve hosted playoff games in Division V each of the past three seasons. This year, the Jets dropped down to D-VI, Region 24.

“We’ve really preached to each of our classes that we’ve had success,” said. “You don’t want to be the class that drops the baton. Obviously our goal is to win the OHC. We want to make it to that neutral site (playoff game in Week 13). We’ve got to that Week 12 hump the last few years and we just haven’t got over that yet.”

The Jets open the season against its former Central Buckeye Conference rival Urbana.

“It’s a big time, old school rivalry,” Buchholtz said. “I expect that to be a great game right out of the gate.”

OHC South: Greeneview has dominated the OHC South Division the past three seasons, going 15-0 with an average margin of victory of 30.9 points per game. During that streak, only one team has come within one score of the Rams — Southeastern, which fell to Greeneview 20-13 in South Charleston last season.

The Rams return 16 seniors, including quarterback Alex Horney (1,276 rushing yards, 1,043 passing yards, 26 total TDs), last year’s South Division Player of the Year. They also return senior running backs Cooper Payton and Chase Walker.

Southeastern finished second with a 4-1 record. The Trojans have a new coach in Ed Hennigan and return senior running back Hayden Davis (1,307 yards, 21 TDs) and senior wide receiver Brennan Workman (52 catches, 668 yards, 4 TDs).

Cedarville graduated 16 seniors, but return last season’s leading rusher in senior Colt Coffey (1,108 yards, 16 TDs).

Greenon, which went 2-8 and 2-3 last season, finished fourth last fall with a 2-3 division record. Catholic Central went 2-8 and 1-4 a year ago. Both teams will look to bounce back into the top of the division this fall.

WEEK 1 SCHEDULE

FRIDAY’S GAMES

Winton Woods at Springfield

Shawnee at Stebbins

Northeastern at Urbana

Catholic Central at Bradford

Fairborn at Tecumseh

Mechanicsburg vs. Kenton Ridge at Bellefontaine’s AccuSport Stadium

Southeastern at Northwestern

Cedarville at Fayetteville-Perry

West Liberty-Salem at Graham

Northridge at Greeneview