XENIA — As excited as everyone was for week one of high school football, week two brings even more pleasure.
Why, you ask?
It means everyone followed the guidelines, did their part, and made smart decisions in order to keep the season going. A couple hours north, Wapakoneta will be without 11 starters against rival St. Marys due to the coronavirus, according to The Lima News. Wapak also had to remove three players prior to last week’s opener as well.
Nothing like that has happened in Greene County that this newspaper is aware of. So other than any potential injuries, all of the teams in our coverage area should be at full strength.
The most intriguing matchup this week is Xenia at Troy. Both teams — division winners and playoff teams last season — lost season openers to their rival in somewhat different fashion. Troy trailed Piqua, 19-3, early in the third quarter and never really threatened a comeback.
Xenia led Fairborn, 14-0, at halftime and was a couple yards from tying the game in the final 1:30 when a fumble ended that late rally. The Bucs relied heavily on the run, while the Trojans threw for 184 yards (and three interceptions) and ran for another 165.
Over in the Southwestern Buckeye League, Bellbrook and and Franklin pitched shutouts last week, so something has to give when they play tonight. There are no ties in high school football unless there’s some weird circumstance. Of course it is 2020, so anything is possible.
The Golden Eagles ran for 298 yards and had 181 yards passing on just 12 attempts. Junior running back Seth Borondy accounted for 227 of Bellbrook’s 479 yards in the 48-0 win over Waynesville. Franklin had just 176 total yards, all but nine on the ground.
Other games in our coverage area include:
Beavercreek (0-1) at Springboro (0-1); West Carrollton (0-1) at Fairborn (1-0); Carroll (0-1) at Chaminade-Julienne (1-0); Madison Plains (0-1) at Cedarville (0-1); and Southeastern (0-1) at Greeneview (0-1).
After one week, here are the Greene County rankings. In previous years, the rankings were determined by margin of victory. While that will be taken into consideration this year, other factors — such as location and opponent — will come into play.
1. Bellbrook
2. Fairborn
3. Xenia
4. Greeneview
5. Beavercreek
6. Carroll
7. Cedarville
