Watterson football team wins league title to continue its roll

It might be easy to dismiss the value of winning the Central Catholic League-Silver Division championship considering it has just three teams, and one of those hasn't won a title in 48 years.

Those factors didn't take away from the motivation that the Bishop Watterson (Columbus) football team felt last Friday when it played for the outright title against league-rival St. Charles (Columbus).

The Eagles have been on a roll since losing to defending Division II state champion Winton Woods (Cincinnati) 23-14 on Sept. 17. Last Friday, they survived a four-turnover performance to win 28-21 and capture their first league title since 2006.

The other team in the CCL, St. Francis DeSales (Columbus), had won the last three titles before losing to the Eagles 31-7 on Oct. 15.

"(Winning the league) was a big motivator," Eagles quarterback Patrick Rhomberg said. "After the Winton Woods letdown we had in the second half, I just don't think we were going to give up. We knew we were going to be physical and just started playing our game."

Rhomberg was intercepted twice and had a first-half fumble which led to a score, but he also threw for 150 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for a score. The Eagles scored the game-winning touchdown with 4 minutes, 57 seconds remaining when Rhomberg hooked up with Erik Oman for a 48-yard reception.

The win was the fourth in a row for Watterson as it improved to 7-1 and clinched a home game for the Division III, Region 10 playoffs. The Eagles are the third-ranked team in the state poll behind Marlington (Alliance) and Sheridan (Thornville). They last won the state title in 2002 and were state semifinalists in 2004. Last season, Watterson lost to eventual state runner-up St. Francis DeSales (Columbus) in a regional final.

"We're definitely a hard-working team, and I think it showed tonight when we had to work through adversity," Oman said.

2. Tarblooders blow by another foe: The Glenville (Cleveland) football team has looked as dominating as ever the last few weeks.

After struggling to edge Dwyer (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) 26-22 on national TV on Sept. 6, the Tarblooders have allowed 25 total points despite playing four teams with winning records. On the season, Glenville has averaged 42 points and is 9-0.

The latest blowout for the state's No. 1-ranked Division I team came last Friday with a 40-0 decision over John Hay (Cleveland).

3. Solon still rolling: Now ranked seventh in the state poll, Solon is one of the teams in Division I, Region 1 expected to tussle with Glenville during the coming postseason. Last Friday, Solon beat Medina 36-6 to improve to 9-0. Comets running back Kyle Hammonds, who has verbally committed to play for Ohio University, finished with 143 yards and three touchdowns on 20 rushes.

4. Tigers win another title: The Pickerington Central football team won its fifth consecutive Ohio Capital Conference-Ohio Division championship last Friday with a 34-10 victory over Grove City. The Tigers gave up 10 first-half points but were never threatened as they improved to 8-0 overall. The state's sixth-ranked team has outscored its six league opponents 256-19.

5. St. Charles wins state boys golf title: The St. Charles (Columbus) golf team earned its second consecutive state championship last Saturday when it fired a Division I state-record 610 on Ohio State's Scarlet Course. Senior Michael Ricaurte earned medalist honors with a 144, followed by juniors Nate Yankovich (155) and Austin Cuervo (157) and seniors Daniel Wiegandt (158) and Alex Carpenter (159).

TOP PERFORMERS
* Lauren Thai and Ashley Thai, Hilliard Bradley girls tennis: At the Division II state girls tennis tournament last Saturday at Davidson (Hilliard), the sophomore cousins duo earned their first doubles title. After winning their first three state matches in straight sets, the Thai sisters might have had their best performance in the final, beating Kassie Faugno and Dominique Baxter of Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy 6-0, 6-2 in the final.

* Cole Stoudt, Dublin Coffman football: The quarterback had his best game of the season last Friday. During a 38-14 victory over Kilbourne (Worthington), Stoudt completed 20 of 27 passes for 370 yards and three touchdowns as the Shamrocks improved to 7-2.

* Ray Russ, South (Willoughby) football: During a 49-21 win over Riverside (Painesville), Russ threw for seven first-half touchdowns and finished 19-for-31 passing for 345 yards. The Rebels are 8-1 and already have clinched a playoff berth in Division I, Region 1.

COMING THIS WEEK
* McKinley (Canton) at Washington (Massillon) football: A pair of teams looking to lock up a Division I, Region 2 home playoff games will meet Friday. Last season, the Bulldogs beat the Tigers 35-21 during the regular season but lost 10-7 to Washington in the regional final.

* Hilliard Darby at Hilliard Davidson, football: Never before have two of Hilliard's schools been so strong entering their annual matchup. Davidson (Hilliard) beat the Panthers 42-0 last season, but Darby (Hilliard) has bounced back from a 3-6 season to win eight of its first nine games. The Wildcats would clinch a Division I, Region 3 home game with a victory while the Panthers would earn a playoff berth with a win.

* St. John's Jesuit (Toledo) at Central Catholic (Toledo), football: While both teams enter the matchup with 8-1 records, a victory would mean a Division I, Region 2 playoff berth for St. John's (Toledo) while Central Catholic (Toledo) can clinch a Division II, Region 6 home game. Central Catholic won last year's matchup 40-21. St. John's last win over the Fighting Irish was in 2007.

RECRUITING NEWS
Cole Stoudt's performance last Friday against Kilbourne wasn't his only big news of the week. Three days before that, ThisWeekSPORTS.com reported that the Coffman (Dublin) senior quarterback has verbally committed to play for Wyoming. Stoudt's older brother, Zach Stoudt, is a 2007 Coffman graduate who is playing for Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs. He made an official visit to Wyoming on Oct. 18. … Brookhaven (Columbus) girls basketball player Travecia Franklin has verbally committed to Indiana State, according to ThisWeekSPORTS.com. Franklin earned second-team all-district honors in Division I last year and is the second player from the Bearcats' program to verbally commit over the past two months. Senior teammate Briana Holmes previously committed to play for Marist.

BRIEFLY
Upper Arlington (Columbus) girls tennis player Niki Flower was unable to win a second consecutive Division I state singles title last Saturday. She lost to Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame sophomore Sandy Niehaus 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the state championship match at Davidson. … According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Benedictine (Cleveland) football coach Art Bortnick will be stepping down at the end of the season. Although the Bengals won state titles in 2003 and '04 and were runners-up in 2002, they went 3-7 last season and are off 2-7 this season. Bortnick is 65-60 in 11 seasons with five playoff appearances.

Jarrod Ulrey covers Central and Northern Ohio for MaxPreps.com. He covers prep sports for ThisWeekSPORTS.com and can be reached at julrey@thisweeknews.com.