Here are all the top storylines and individual performances from Week 9 of the 2025 Greater Cincinnati high school football season.
The last time Anderson went into Winton Woods and left with a victory was in 2002. On that night, Kurt Shoemaker threw the go-ahead touchdown to Drew Hubbard with 18 seconds left to lead Anderson to a 22-19 win en route to a 10-0 regular season.
The two programs were Fort Ancient Valley Conference rivals in the Buckeye Division. Now fighting for supremacy in the Eastern Cincinnati Conference, that drought is over after Anderson overcame some early adversity in a 37-30 victory over the Warriors Oct. 17.
Anderson (9-0), The Enquirer's No. 1 area team, had won its first eight games by an average of 40 points. For the first time since last year's Division II state final, Anderson trailed at halftime and was down 13 points midway through the second quarter after its high-powered offense committed back-to-back turnovers.
Anderson responded, though, scoring 27 of the game's final 34 points to secure its 24th consecutive regular-season win.
"This isn't data, this isn't a stat people can look at. It's called resiliency, it's called effort, staying together," Anderson head coach Evan Dreyer said. "I'm so proud of how those guys handled it at halftime to come away and play really hard and get the job done tonight."
Quarterback Owen Scalf was held without a touchdown pass for the first time this season, but still threw for 348 yards and ran for the game-winning score late in the third quarter. Running back Jordan Davis had 179 scrimmage yards (78 rushing, 101 receiving) and ran for three touchdowns.
While it's high-octane offense got out of an early rut, Anderson's defense fueled the comeback effort. The Raptors allowed a kickoff return touchdown in the third quarter, but its defense allowed just 22 second-half yards and forced three punts.
"Defensively, players over plays. Let them go play. Keep it simple and let those guys run around," Dreyer said. "We had a bunch of kids who were hungry, angry at halftime and played really, really hard with great effort. It goes back to our kids just wanting a little bit more."
Anderson has clinched the No. 1 seed in Division II, Region 8, according to Joe Eitel, and can secure an outright ECC title with a win over Loveland in Week 10.
Here's what we saw on the field on Friday night, as well as what to look forward to on Oct. 24.
Which Ohio high school football teams control their own destiny headed into Week 10?
According to Joe Eitel, who provides the formula for the OHSAA's week-by-week computer rankings, here's which Cincinnati-area teams find themselves in a "win and you're in" situation entering the final week of the regular season. Teams are listed by division, with their Week 10 opponent in parentheses.
Division I: No. 9 Fairfield (at Oak Hills); No. 11 Oak Hills (vs. Fairfield).
Division II: No. 10 Withrow (at Western Hills); No. 14 Loveland (at Anderson).
Division III: No. 9 Goshen (at Western Brown); No. 11 McNicholas (at Badin).
Division IV: No local teams have the "control own destiny" tag, but No. 9 Roger Bacon, No. 10 Taylor, No. 11 Fenwick and No. 13 New Richmond are all on the bubble.
Division V: No. 11 Purcell Marian and No. 12 Waynesville are on the bubble.
Division VI: No. 8 Summit Country Day (at CHCA). No. 11 Deer Park and No. 13 Blanchester are also on the bubble.
Division VII: Cincinnati Country Day and Cincinnati College Prep have secured playoff spots. New Miami and Lockland have been mathematically eliminated.
Princeton wins the Greater Miami Conference
Princeton clinched the Greater Miami Conference championship for the third straight year with a 35-0 win over Fairfield. They won it outright when Middletown took an upset loss to Hamilton, 14-10. Princeton, 8-1 and 7-2 Middletown face off next week in the regular-season finale.
Also in the GMC, Mason beat Colerain to give head coach Brian Castner his 100th career victory.
Clinton-Massie wins SBAAC-American
Clinton-Massie won the Southern Buckeye-American for the third year in a row and eighth out of the last nine seasons after beating Western Brown, 37-0. The Falcons, 8-1, play at Batavia next week.
Decision Day in the MVC
The new three-division setup in the Miami Valley Conference created three big games Oct. 17, as all six teams that were 1-0 in league play faced each other. Three teams clinched at least a share of their division titles while improving to 8-1 overall.
Cincinnati Country Day beat North College Hill 46-14 in the Gray Division. CHCA rallied to beat Roger Bacon 36-21 in the Scarlet Division, and St. Bernard-Elmwood Place knocked off MVCA 27-0 in the White Division.
Unbeaten updates
Besides Taft and Anderson, here’s how the other unbeaten teams in Greater Cincinnati fared.
∎ Badin defeated Alter 28-14 in a big GCL-Coed and Division III, Region 12 showdown. Lem Grayson’s 62-yard touchdown run clinched the win with two minutes left. The Rams, 9-0, won their 31st straight league game and clinched a share of their eighth title in a row. Badin plays McNicholas next week.
∎ Elder traveled to Indianapolis and beat Bishop Chatard 28-7 to go 9-0. Tommy Becker rushed for 129 yards and a touchdown, and the Panthers outgained their opponent 372-241. Elder hosts De La Salle from Michigan next week.
∎ Holy Cross routed Trimble County 58-0 to go to 8-0. Curt Spencer’s team is 2-0 in their 1A district and plays at Ludlow next week.
∎ Indian Hill beat Deer Park 48-6, rolling the rest of the way after surrendering an early touchdown. The Braves have now outscored foes 375-41 this season, and host Reading next week. They have clinched a share of the Cincinnati Hills League title with Wyoming, which is their second title in three seasons.
∎ Lloyd Memorial had its bye week this week and plays at Carroll County next week.
∎ Williamsburg (9-0) had no problem with the winless East Clinton Astros, rolling to a 49-0 win. They will play at Bethel-Tate (4-5) next week for the SBAAC-National championship after Bethel pulled out a 35-34 thriller over Blanchester.
Dixie Heights hits a big milestone
With a 55-0 win over Boone County, the Colonels picked up the 500th win all-time in the history of the program, in year 88. Dixie is 4-5 this year and secured a home game in the first round of the 5A playoffs.
Top performers from Week 9 of the Greater Cincinnati high school football season
Jordan Bryant, Hamilton: He had two tackles, a forced fumble, recovered a fumble, and scored the game-winning touchdown with four minutes left in a 14-10 upset of Middletown.
Luke Faler, Lebanon: The senior QB threw for 231 yards and 4 TDs (all in the first half). He’s now just 66 yards shy of the all-time school career passing record and moved into fifth all-time for single-season TDs with 21.
Kemper McAfee, Talawanda: The junior had a season-high 13 total tackles (11 solo) in Talawanda's 35-14 win over Mt. Healthy.
Jackson Kauffman, Fenwick: The senior scored the winning touchdown with 1:07 to go, then ended the game with an interception as the Falcons beat McNicholas 16-14 to improve to 5-4.
Zachary Maier, Mariemont: The senior quarterback has now thrown multiple touchdowns in four straight games and six times this season after going 8-of-15 for 137 yards and three scores in a 28-7 win over Finneytown. He found leading receiver Evan List (3 catches, 81 yards) for two of those touchdowns.
Jordan Davis, Anderson: The ECC's leader in rushing touchdowns now has 16 this season after running for three scores in a 37-30 win over Winton Woods. Davis finished with 78 rushing yards on 17 attempts and had his second 100-yard receiving performance of the season with 101 on eight catches.
Andrew Trapp, Little Miami: He scored five touchdowns in a 45-14 win over Milford.
Ja'mere Mitchell, Roger Bacon: In a loss to CHCA, 36-21, he rushed for 251 yards and two touchdowns.
Gray Robinson, Williamsburg: The junior needed just three carries to rack up 113 yards and two touchdowns in a 49-0 win over East Clinton. Robinson passed the 1,000-yard mark for the season with double-digit touchdowns (11).
Derek Uran, Elder: The Virginia commit had seven tackles, including 3.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks as well as a forced fumble.
Alex Wells, CHCA: Well hauled in six passes for 107 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Top storylines and performers from Week 9 of high school football
Category: General Sports