Ja’Niaus Hall of Lima Senior drops back in the pocket against Marion Harding on Friday night.
Chris Howell | The Lima News
It’s hard to believe we’re already this far in, but as of last weekend, 30% of the regular season schedule is complete.
The Week 3 slate, and the WBL schedule in particular, provided some twists and turns, including a dominant performance from Wapakoneta, a statement victory by Bath and a major upset when Defiance knocked off St. Marys, 14-10.
That leaves Wapakoneta and Bath as the only 2-0 teams in the WBL, with six others sitting behind them at 1-1. The Redskins are heading into a key rivalry matchup against St. Marys this Friday, which could go a long way in determining the league’s champion.
Before we look ahead to Week 4, let’s take a look at Week 3 by the numbers.
7, 4 — Lima Senior quarterback Ja’Niaus Hall had an eventful game against Marion Harding, which is almost always the case in the Spartans’ pass-heavy offense. Hall threw four interceptions, all in the first half, and ended the night with seven touchdowns. Three of them went to Isaiah “Boog” Wilson, including a 74-yard score on a screen. Lima Senior trailed 10-8 at the end of the first quarter and outscored the Presidents 33-14 the rest of the way to stay unbeaten.
100 — In a Week 3 loss to Defiance, St. Marys, for the first time this season, didn’t have two players run for at least 100 yards. They had one. It was Caleb Schmidt, who recorded his first career game of more than 100 yards with 103. The Bulldogs “limited” Dominik Osborne, the WBL’s third reading rusher, to 90 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries. The Roughriders still out-rushed Defiance 296-201.
157-10 — It’s hard to find another team that’s been as dominant in its non-conference schedule as Bluffton. The Pirates have outscored their first three opponents, Ayersville, Pandora-Gilboa and Benjamin Logan, 157-10, including a 42-0 shutout over the Rockets. Bluffton visits Delphos Jefferson on Saturday afternoon, a team that’s lost each of the past two weeks. After that, the Pirates play two teams that currently have winning records in Spencerville (Sept. 20) and Lima Central Catholic (Sept. 27).
312 — It seems like Marion Local makes its way onto this list every week. That’s not hard to believe from a team that currently has a 51-game winning streak and three consecutive state championships. This week the Flyers beat St. Henry 41-9. It was Tim Goodwin’s 312th win, which ties Steubenville’s Reno Saccoccia (1983-2012) for the eighth most in Ohio high school football history. Goodwin can move past Saccoccia with a win over Delphos St. John’s on Friday.
96 — Celina quarterback Bobby Morris played a part in three long scoring plays during his team’s 42-14 win over Van Wert in Week 3. With 11:39 to go in the game, Morris got loose for a 96-yard touchdown run to seal the victory. He also connected with Kaiden Wertz on passing touchdowns from 51 yards and 78 yards out. Morris ran for 173 yards and completed five of his nine pass attempts for 169 yards against the Cougars.
896 — By my count, the top two rushers in the Western Buckeye League are both quarterbacks, Briston Wise of Van Wert and JJ Spyker of Shawnee. Through the season’s first three weeks, the two have combined for 896 yards on 113 carries. Wise leads the league with 473 yards and five touchdowns on 66 carries.
21 — With its 49-23 win over Shawnee in Week 2, Bath earned its first 2-0 start in WBL play since 2003 — that’s 21 seasons ago. In Frank Russell’s second season, his team has already erased a few of these old streaks. Bath started 4-2 last season, and with Kenton, Elida and Ottawa-Glandorf on the schedule for the next three weeks, they have a real shot to top that this year.
Reach Chris Howell at 567-242-0468 or on Twitter/X at @Lima_Howell
