Week 2 of the high school football season had a handful of marquee games as the Greater Miami Conference and Eastern Cincinnati Conference opened league play.
A few teams also traveled across the river, Covington Catholic facing Elder in The Pit and Simon Kenton heading to Mt. Orab to face Western Brown among them.
Here are the top things we learned, as well as a rundown of the top performances.
Highlands’ offense may not be polished, but it is patient
The Bluebirds ran the ball 50 times for 192 yards and three touchdowns in a 28-14 win over Cooper.
A 14-7 halftime lead was reminiscent of their 17-7 lead in the 2024 state semifinals. Walking out of the locker room on Nov. 29, 2024, there were mumbles among the players and coaches that they were only 24 minutes away from the state championship game.
“That is absolutely the wrong mentality to have. The only thing that matters is the play that’s getting ready to happen,” Highlands head coach Bob Sphire said then.
On Aug. 29, quarterback Rio Litmer did complete 19 of 27 passes, but it was the run game that killed the clock behind the massive offensive line of Caleb Atkins, Brody Cook, Mason Howard, Max Merz and Andrew Swope. Highlands earned first downs three plays at a time; the Bluebirds won the time-of-possession battle, 35 minutes to 13 minutes. Through two games, they’ve collected 43 first downs and allowed only nine.
Highlands has a loaded schedule, but they’re not focused on all eight remaining opponents. In the words of Bill Belichick, “They’re on to Campbell County.”
Taft rallies to beat Alter in Division IV showdown
In a rematch of two Taft wins last year, including one in the playoffs, the Senators beat Kettering Alter 33-27 in overtime on the road.
Taft scored three touchdowns in the final nine minutes of the fourth quarter to rally from a 20-point deficit. Lorenzo McMullen had a TD catch to make it 27-19, then Nijia Hill returned an interception to the Alter 1-yard line to set up the tying touchdown and two-point conversion.
Taft, 2-0, plays at Chaminade-Julienne next week.
Holy Cross is 2-0 for first time since 2016
Holy Cross defeated Bracken County 25-24, marking the Indians’ first 2-0 start since they went 10-4 in 2015 and advanced to the Kentucky 2A state semifinals behind current Detroit Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes.
Max Hunt returned a kickoff for a touchdown in the third quarter, and Holy Cross got a two-point conversion to lead 25-18. In the fourth quarter, Bracken scored a TD but the Indians blocked the extra point.
Kings gets first regular season win over Winton Woods since 2021
In arguably the biggest conference clash of Week 2, Kings opened up ECC play with a dramatic 16-14 win over Winton Woods that came down to the final seconds. The Warriors reached the Knights’ 4-yard line as the waning seconds ticked off but didn’t have enough time to spike the ball and attempt a game-winning field goal.
Kings got a gritty offensive effort with 103 combined rushing yards from Grant Nurre and Max Lockwood. Nurre threw a touchdown to Andrew Lyman and Noah Magrino’s 23-yard field goal with 8:12 left in regulation proved to be the game-winner. Kings was just 2-4 against Winton Woods overall in the last four years and hadn’t beaten the Warriors in the regular season since 2021.
Top performances in Week 2 of the Greater Cincinnati high school football season
Tayden Lorenzen, Highlands: The junior ran the ball 20 times for 103 yards and three touchdowns.
Logan Schmenk, Lebanon: He had 17 carries for 51 yards and three touchdowns, including the walk-off touchdown in overtime to beat Loveland.
Kaden Estep, Elder: He completed 16-of-19 passes for 219 yards, and rushed for 91 yards and two touchdowns as the Panthers improved to 2-0 with a 28-20 win over Covington Catholic.
Andre Bailey, Hamilton: The senior running back ran 28 times for 233 yards and two touchdowns in Hamilton’s 37-7 win over Sycamore.
Ayden Basham, Blanchester: The senior running back scored six touchdowns and threw for another on a trick play to lead his team to a 56-49 win over Cincinnati Country Day. His sixth TD was the winning score in the final minute.
Jackson Smith, Lakota West: The QB completed 12-of-14 passes for 284 yards and four touchdowns as the Firebirds held off Mason, 35-13.
Malachi Kennedy, Dayton: He scored eight touchdowns in the Greendevils’ wild 62-49 win over Pendleton County.
Owen Scalf, Anderson: He completed 20-of-25 passes for 351 yards and three touchdowns in the Raptors’ 49-7 win over West Clermont.
Tink Sellers, Deer Park: The junior has now combined for 10 touchdowns in two games after running for three and throwing another in a 40-20 win over Shroder.
Braylon Bryant, Middletown: Bryant led a Middletown defense that held Fairfield to 147 total yards, tallied two takeaways and forced four turnovers on downs. The junior had a team-high eight tackles and 2.5 sacks.
