Ed. note: This is a roundup of high school football game coverage from PressProsMagazine.com. Be sure to check out the site every day for more as well as coverage the OHSAA volleyball tournament, Ohio State football, basketball and baseball, Dayton Flyers basketball, Ohio harness racing and more.
Making memories might not be easy for a program like Marion Local — at least in the regular season when you have 15 state championships — but this group keeps figuring out ways to do it.
This time, the Flyers extended their state-record winning streak to 74 straight games without the offense scoring a point.
Andrew Schmackers returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter, and Thomas Winner’s PAT kick turned out to be the difference in Marion Local’s 7-6 win over Coldwater in a battle of defending state champions.
ML’s third one-point win of the season clinched another perfect regular season and fifth straight outright Midwestern Athletic Conference championship (eight overall).
How do they do it?
“I’d say tradition. We show up every day, we give it everything we have, we’ve shown it multiple times this year. We haven’t been the best on offense, haven’t been the best on defense every game, but we all have showed we got guts. Coach [Tim] Goodwin always tells us, ‘I’ll never question your guys’ guts.’ And I think we proved it again tonight. Never gave up.”
Coldwater finished the regular season 6-4 with losses to Clinton-Massie, Anna and New Bremen. The Cavaliers will host resurgent Covington in the first round of the Division VI playoffs while Marion Local has a bye in Division VII.
The Flyers will face Lehman Catholic or Minster in the second round, and both of those matchups would be interesting as the Cavaliers have a nearly unstoppable offense and the Wildcats would be looking to atone for getting blown out 42-0 at home by ML last week.
AD BREAK!
I’m using Beehiiv to publish this newsletter and maintain CusWordsSports.com. If you are interested in getting into the publishing business, I definitely recommend checking them out.
They have free and paid plans for newsletters from 1-1,000,000 (probably) subscribers.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I am part of the Beehiiv affiliate program, so if you follow the link and end up signing up, I could receive compensation.
Elsewhere in Mercer County, St. Henry won its seventh game in a row since losing 21-14 at home to Marion Local in Week 3.
The Redskins knocked Versailles out of playoff contention with a 26-20 victory, and coach Josh Werling credited his team “finding its spine.”
“What I love about tonight is that it gives us something to approach for next week,” Werling said in anticipation of being the No. 2 seed. “The bye week gives us time to see what tonight looks like on film and address that in practice. We’re not a perfect product, but we’re going to work to get there.”
They’re probably also going to get another shot at the Flyers, but not until the regional final.
I was in Sidney on Friday night, where the Yellow Jackets are headed in the right direction if the last two weeks are any indication.
First-year coach Kyle Coleman endured a rough start to the season, and he was playing a lot of young players, but they beat West Carrollton in Week 9 and gave Piqua a good test in Week 10.
Piqua Heading To Playoffs On 4-game Win Streak After Holding Off Sidney bit.ly/43vckih
— #PressProsMagazine (#@PressProsMag)
7:33 AM • Oct 25, 2025
It’s a shame Sidney’s Ishhod Diomonde is a senior because he is a tough runner who rarely goes down on first contact.
They’ve also got some good size on the lines and other talented skill players, but the most notable development this season is obviously the emergence of freshman quarterback Andrew Lundy.
He’s a good athlete with a live arm. He threw a nice deep ball and did a good job hitting guys on the sidelines to keep the chains moving. He was able to throw on the run and refocus his eyes down the field after being rushed.
Lundy did make a couple of bad mistakes throwing the ball late down field, and he paid for it with a pair of damaging interceptions.
But he’s a freshman. I’d be excited to watch him in the future even if he were a junior!
Keep an eye on the Jackets…
Sidney QB Andrew Lundy scrambles on Friday night against Piqua
Piqua (6-4) obviously has the arrow pointing up, too, after two down seasons.
The Indians won the Battered Helmet for the first time in three years, and they’ve got a sophomore quarterback to build around in Chris Davis.
He looked a lot more comfortable in Week 10 than when I saw him in Week 2 at Tippecanoe. The Indians were no match for the Red Devils that night, but they clearly made a lot of progress under the dean of area coaches— Bill Nees.
Piqua’s defense struggled mightily — the interceptions saved them — but the Indians have an impressive offense. The Piqua radio broadcast praised the development of offensive coordinator Travis Nees, Bill’s son, and it was easy to see why. They have a robust playbook that let Davis throw the ball around when the defense keyed in on Debo Knisley inside.
Davis also kept the ball on a zone read to get the last first down the Indians needed to be able to run out the clock.
In Central Ohio, Olentangy Orange beat defending state champion Olentangy Liberty 26-14 to win the outright Ohio Capital Conference Central division championship and get bragging rights over their intra-district rival.
Orange is undefeated heading into the playoffs in Division I, Region 3 while Liberty’s six-game winning streak following an 0-3 start came to an end.
Orange will be a team to watch not just because of their record but multitalented QB Levi Davis, who is headed to Ohio University next season.
Orange Caps 10-0 Campaign By Beating Rival Liberty For OCC Central Crown. Read @BlackiePreps
with pics by @bucknut2739pressprosmagazine.com/2025/10/25/ora…
@OOHS_Football @OlibFootball @levi_davis13
@JakeLuling @AdenScott05 @_treyschroeder_
@BrennanKesler @wes_schroeder @LHSAthleticDept— #PressProsMagazine (#@PressProsMag)
6:41 AM • Oct 25, 2025
Not far away, Olentangy Berlin beat Olentangy 14-10 to win the OCC Cardinal. That completed an amazing turnaround from starting 0-5.
Berlin notched seven sacks while winning its fourth straight division title, and Bears coach Mark Nori said defensive coordinator Jeremy Arend is a genius.
“We give a lot of looks defensively, and for people to game plan against us is difficult. It could be our coverage, it could be our play up front, but our defense does a great job mixing it up.”
Berlin will host Grove City in an 8-9 matchup this Friday while Olentangy had on to fourth place and a by in the same region (3). That means the Braves will host Liberty or Newark in round two. They opened the season by beating the Patriots 26-6.
Red-Hot Berlin Sacks Olentangy For Another League Title. Read the story by @UlreySports with pics by @ProphetJn316
@Berlin_Bears_FB @OHSBravesFB @hudson_aultman
@ColtonLess @BraylonLopez26 @BerlinBearsAD
@OHSathletics @marcushartman @BHOOLZ @jw_gilbert @jackson_mangham— #PressProsMagazine (#@PressProsMag)
6:46 AM • Oct 25, 2025
Other Ohio high school football games of note:
Miami East held off Riverside 14-10 to win the Three Rivers Conference outright.
Sidney Lehman beat Covington 48-34 to improve to 6-1. They finished a game behind the Vikings in the TRC, but Turner Lachey had another incredible game. The senior QB completed 34 of 59 passes for 565 yards, his fourth 500-yard passing game (including 615 at Bethel two weeks ago) of the season. Evan O’Leary caught 18 passes for 354 yards and three touchdowns, his second 300-yard receiving game and sixth with at least 200 this season. The Buccaneers finished in third place in the TRC with a 5-2 conference mark, but that represents a major improvement from the first four years of the league’s existence in which they won a combined two games.
London beat Kenton Ridge 30-0 to complete CBC play unbeaten and unscored upon. Yes, the Red Raiders beat conference foes a collective 200-0 in five games to win the Kenton Trail division outright for the third year in a row. They are the No. 1 seed in Division III, Region 12.
Springfield stomped Northmont 56-7 to clinch the outright Greater Western Ohio Conference championship. The Wildcats (6-4) went 6-1 in league play after dropping their first three games out of conference to Winton Woods, Walsh Jesuit and Trotwood-Madison. They are the fifth seed in Division I, Region 5 and host Marysville on Friday night.