By John Bombatch
To the casual fan, the undefeated Beavercreek Beavers’ recipe for success thus far in the 2015 high school football season might be attributed to the team’s bruising running game. But the Beavers defense should get some credit as well for how they’ve stopped their opponents’ running games as well.
Through three weeks of football, Beavercreek has gained 280 yards or more in rushing offense. They average 356 yards gained on the ground per contest, while holding their opponents to just 26. That’s a pretty good reason why the Beavers remain the Greene County area’s top high school football team at 3-0.
With their win over Springfield Shawnee, the Carroll Patriots are now no. 2 in the area poll with a 2-1 record and a plus-26 season points differential. They will host a winless but dangerous Dayton Chaminade Julienne team on Friday.
According to the computer calculations at joeeitel.com, the Greeneview Rams vaulted themselves into fourth place among Division V football powers with their win over previously unbeaten Lee’s Creek East Clinton last Friday. They’re in third in the Greene County poll.
Greeneview is now 2-1 overall this season and they’ll face a tough road trip to North Lewisburg against Ohio Heritage Conference foe Triad next.
The number 4 Fairborn Skyhawks took their lumps against undefeated Beavercreek last week, but they’ll host Sidney this week with a chance to improve on their 1-2 record.
After a season opening win over Waynesville, the Bellbrook Golden Eagles have now lost two straight to fall to fifth in the county. Their work doesn’t get any easier this week when they’ll open up Southwestern Buckeye League, Southwestern Division play on the road against a currently undefeated Brookville Blue Devils team.
The only games the Cedarville Indians (1-2) have lost so far this season have been ones against undefeated opponents (Madison Plains and Riverside). If there’s a pattern here, we’ll find out on Friday when the no. 6 Indians play host to undefeated OHC foe Mechanicsburg.
The division II-sized Xenia Buccaneers are ready to try picking on someone their own size for a change. Two of their three losses have come against bigger Division I schools Beavercreek and Cincinnati Moeller. They face an undefeated D-II Vandalia Butler bunch on Friday, but two of the Aviators’ wins have come against D-III and D-IV schools.
And the winless Greenon Knights haven’t played a team with a losing record yet. They play a tough Springfield Kenton Ridge team this week, so the Knights will be faced with another tough task on Friday.
Week 3 Area Poll
(Team, record, season points differential)
1. Beavercreek (3-0) +55
2. Carroll (2-1) +26
3. Greeneview (2-1) +10
4. Fairborn (1-2) +2
5. Bellbrook (1-2) -6
6. Cedarville (1-2) -42
7. Xenia (0-3) -104
8. Greenon (0-3) -131
THIS WEEK: Springboro (2-1) at Beavercreek (3-0); Sidney (2-1) at Fairborn (1-2); Vandalia Butler (3-0) at Xenia (0-3); Dayton Chaminade Julienne (0-3) at Carroll (2-1); Bellbrook (1-2) at Brookville (3-0); Greeneview (2-1) at North Lewisburg Triad (1-2); Mechanicsburg (3-0) at Cedarville (1-2); Springfield Kenton Ridge (2-1) at Greenon (0-3).
