OHIO — It was 50 years ago that the Ohio High School Athletic Association first conducted a state football tournament. Back in 1972, you could make a case that some of the best football in Ohio was in Trumbull County.
The first ever OHSAA big class (AAA) state football champion was Warren Western Reserve. The Raiders lost the following year in the championship game to neighboring Youngstown Cardinal Mooney. Then, in 1974, Warren G. Harding won the state.
Western Reserve was closed in 1990, and that fall it merged with Harding. The combined strength of those programs was immediately evident, as the new Warren Harding won the Division I state championship that season.
Both of those programs have produced numerous major college and NFL players, going all the way back to Pro Football Hall of Famer Paul Warfield, who prepped at Harding when the school was still known as the Panthers.
Western Reserve featured the late Ross Browner (former Bengal), and his four younger brothers, three of whom reached the NFL. The youngest two, Joey and Keith, moved to Atlanta before graduating. OSU Hall of Famers Van Ness DeCree and Aaron Brown were also from Western Reserve.
Following the merger, Harding produced Korey Stringer, Maurice Clarett, Mario Manningham, the Herron brothers (David & Daniel “Boom”) and the Daniels family, with sons James and LeShun following in their father’s (LeShun) footsteps.
While the 2022 version of the Raiders would love to help the program return to previous glory (5-6 record last year), their opponent for the first week of the season is trying to maintain a new, lofty standard.
Medina, driven by the play of quarterback Drew Allar (now a freshman at Penn State), has won 17 of its last 19 games (13-1 in 2021), and suffered its only loss in 2021 to eventual state champion St. Edward in the Region 1 final last November. The Battling Bees opened that season with a 31-14 victory at Warren Harding.
The 2022 season opener is the Spectrum News 1 “OHSAA Game of the Week” in Northern Ohio on Friday, and can be seen live on channel 1, as well as through the Spectrum News App.
The rest of the state will see Mason travel from Warren County up to suburban Columbus to face off with Gahanna.
That, too, is a season opening rematch from a year ago, one won by the hosting Comets (15-7). The schools split a home-and-home series in 2009-10 with the host school winning both of those contests.
Both reached the postseason a year ago, as the Lions were 7-3, and Mason 4-7, while playing in the Ohio Capital Conference (Ohio Division) and Greater Miami Conference, respectfully.
It’s just the beginning of the 2022 season on Spectrum News 1 and the Spectrum News App.
