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(Photo by Kristen Grant)

Riding a dominant ground attack and a three-touchdown performance from senior Anthony Valenti, Valley View powered past Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy 31-15 in a Division IV regional semifinal on Friday night.

Valenti scored on runs of 5, 52 and 5 yards, finishing with 76 yards on only five carries to help the Spartans seize control after a 14-7 halftime lead. Valley View rushed for 246 yards and never turned the ball over, while holding the Eagles to just 35 rushing yards and dominating time of possession 31:58 to 10:23.

Valley View struck first midway through the opening quarter when Valenti capped a drive with a 5-yard touchdown run to give the Spartans a 7-0 lead.

CHCA responded early in the second quarter when Griffin Ridner-Richard scrambled in from 12 yards out, tying it at 7-7 with 7:58 left in the half. But the Spartans answered less than five minutes later as Brodie Hopkins punched in a 12-yard touchdown run for a 14-7 advantage at the break.

Valley View imposed its will in the third quarter, blowing the game open on Valenti’s long 52-yard touchdown sprint with 7:20 remaining, then adding another 5-yard score just over two minutes later for a 28-7 lead.

Gavin Phillips added a 24-yard field goal early in the fourth to push the margin to three possessions.

CHCA scored late to close the gap, finishing with 118 passing yards but committing three turnovers, including two interceptions. Ridner-Richard, one of three quarterbacks used, rushed for the Eagles’ lone score and finished with 34 passing yards, while Nolan Lum led the aerial effort with 78 yards and a touchdown.

The Spartans, who averaged 5.9 yards per carry, also received 79 rushing yards from Tristan Smith and 43 from quarterback Brody Gibbs, who completed 4 of 10 passes.

Valenti wasn’t just an offensive star — he also hauled in two receptions for 51 yards and snagged an interception defensively.

Valley View faces Indian Hill in a regional final on Friday, Nov. 21, at 7 p.m. at Fairfield Alumni Stadium.

(Story by Rick McCrabb/JournalNews)

Alex Collins has all the traits of a record-setting running back, his coach said.

The standout back has quickness, size, toughness and field vision, said Josh Koogle, in his second season as football coach at Carlisle High School.

No wonder the Indians are enjoying one of their most successful seasons.

Koogle is a big reason for Carlisle’s success this year.

Collins, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound sophomore, has rushed 155 times for 1,310 yards and 11 touchdowns in 10 games. He was injured and missed the Waynesville game.

The leading rusher in the Southwestern Buckeye League, he has 400 yards more than the second-place rusher.

In the 10 games this season, he has two 200-yard games and five 100-yard games.

Koogle said Collins is having “a big year” for the Indians.

In Carlisle’s easy victory over West Liberty Salem, Collins rushed 18 times for 211 yards and three scores. Carlisle raced to a 21-0 first-quarter lead and never looked back.

“They wanted that one,” said Koogle, a 2011 Carlisle High graduate who spent eight seasons as assistant coach at Preble Shawnee before being hired two years ago to lead the Indians. “It went the way we hoped it would.”

Collins’ journey to becoming one of the best backs in the area has taken a few detours. He grew up in Carlisle, then his family moved to North Carolina.

There he tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in eighth grade playing football, then tore the same ACL the next year wrestling.

He doesn’t think about damaging his ACL again.

“I just run,” he said.

He has healed from those injuries and is enjoying playing football again in his hometown.

“It’s good to be back with my big offensive line,” he said.

When Collins scores a touchdown, he looks at the fans and thinks: “I did something for the community to make people proud of me.”

He plans to play college football, but that’s two seasons away. Right now he doesn’t want his sophomore season to end.

“I have a really good feeling about this season,” Collins said.

(Story and photo by Steven Wright/Dayton Daily News)

The journey began in January and ended in November.

The end of the cross country campaign for the Oakwood girls team was a fitting example of the dominance it displayed throughout the season. The Jills were able to pull off school history in the process.

Oakwood won its first ever OHSAA Division III State Cross Country Championship on Saturday at Fortress Obetz in Columbus.

“We’ve had really good teams in the past,” senior Delaney Cahill said. “With like really good runners. So finally to get that victory for our team is, like, just crazy. Our coach and team have worked so hard for it.”

The Jills scored 71 team points to beat best runner-up Huron by 39. The team had all of its scoring placers finish within one minute of one another in all three postseason races.

Jills freshman Evelyn Reinoehl had the best finish for Oakwood. She placed 10th with a time of 18 minutes, 38.59 seconds. Senior Delaney Cahill was right behind her by fewer than three seconds in finishing 11th.

Senior Riley Meador (28th), and juniors Isa Dunlap (40th) and Sylvia Gallagher Yerman (44th) all scored points. Juniors Katherine Erin (45th) and Anna Peters (97th) were other contributors to the state team.

“We train how we race,” Cahill said. “We’ll be in packs, like Evelyn, Riley and I are all in packs and we all try to run together, so that really helps when we’re racing. Just that we know what it’s like and how it’s going to be like.”

The team finished as runner-up in 2020 and have produced multiple individual champions over the last decade-plus. This was an accomplishment everyone was striving to achieve.

Saturday did not go to plan, according to Sanford, as he expected his runners to finish in a different order of support. He said the runners ability to step up when the race called for them to perform at their best shows their tenacity to reach their goal.

“Our six actually ran really well,” Sanford said. “You never know which girl is going to step up.”

Oakwood’s runners mainly stayed in the middle of the pack until roughly the mile mark of the race. Reinoehl fell short after the race began, but still managed to get a top-10 finish.

As their plan to run down those in front of them played out as it has successfully in the past, there was little doubt the rest of the field were running for second.

“I’m so excited,” Cahill said. “Season’s over and we ended on a high note. So it’s just amazing.”

The top-24 placers in each division made the podium and were awarded medals.

Valley View senior Addy Abner (9th) was the area’s top finisher in D-III.

Talawanda senior Abra Mills finished ninth in the D-II race.

(Story by Steven Wright/JournalNews. Photo by Michael Cooper/JournalNews)

Oakwood has claimed seven straight district titles and five of the last seven regionals as a team. Four individual state titles have been won by three girls from 2012-2022.

This year’s lady runners are ready to try and capture the school’s first state team title.

Head coach Kurt Sanford has a group of two seniors and four juniors together heading to Fortress Obetz and Memorial Park, the site of the OHSAA State Cross Country Championships, for the third time to compete at state on Saturday. And joining them is a freshman, Evelyn Reinoehl, who placed second at regionals.

“They’re chomping at the bit to get going,” Sanford said. “... I just think they wish it was already Saturday. I mean, they’re ready.”

Oakwood’s previous best finish at state was runner-up in 2020 with individual champion Grace Hartman on the team.

Oakwood is the top ranked Division III team in this week’s OATCCC state poll. Many of the same runners were part of the school’s runner-up finish at the state track and field championships in the spring.

The team’s top-five scorers at regionals all placed in the top-11 and were separated by 53 seconds.

“We train the way we race them,” Sanford said. “They train in packs with the people they’re expected to race with on Saturdays. But what you can never account for is that on any given Saturday, somebody’s going to have an amazing day.”

Reinoehl filled that role Saturday with juniors Delaney Cahill, Isa Dunlap and Katherine Erwin and senior Riley Meador all earning points for the team as well.

Sanford said it’s unsurprising the team has learned to race well together and manage their paces.

Entering the season, the girls expected to be in the mix at the end of the year, according to Sanford, and have an understanding of the program’s culture.

“There’s a lot of pride on that girls team,” he said. “The boys team does not have the same history as the girls, but they’re building that tradition as well.”

The boys will be making its fifth consecutive state appearance. The team won a three-team tiebreaker for second place at regionals.

Senior Tony Orsello displayed the mindset instilled through training to make every result count. He got a crucial point with his 24th place finish, crossing the line by a quarter second ahead of Kade Schweikhardt of Bethel, which propelled the team into the three-way tie. Sanford said with four of the state’s top-six teams running in the region, it was the exactly what the team needed to understand what it will take to place well at state.

And with the groups going together, he thinks it helps to have the support of everyone pushing one another each step of the way.

“I’ve never observed any gamesmanship or jealousy or anything like that,” Sanford said of the two groups running together during training. “They cheer each other on at meets, I see them high fiving and being supportive. A little competition wouldn’t hurt.”

The Troy course at regionals didn’t provide much in the way of strategy with it mostly being made up of loops. A narrow turn runners encounter at the start of the Obetz course as they initially enter the stadium is thought by Sanford to be the crucial point of Saturday’s race. The expanded field of 216 runners at state will make it a tight squeeze to fight for position as 24 teams and other individuals converge on the 90 degree right turn down the hill.

Sanford said he feels his team does well thinking positively on race day and have learned how attitude and effort are the best motivators during the pre-race waiting time.

There won’t be any big speeches or pep talks from Sanford in the moments leading up to the starting horn.

“They’re not listening to you anyways. Their heads have already gone into the race,” he said.