If you’re a fan of City League football, the night of Sept. 17 is for you with six games on the schedule: Beechcroft at Linden-McKinley, Centennial at Mifflin, Eastmoor Academy at Briggs, Independence at South, Marion-Franklin at Walnut Ridge and West at Africentric.
Linden, South and West are all undefeated. Linden started 8-0 last season, but this is new territory for the players at South and West.
Two years removed from 0-10 and coming off a 3-7 finish last fall, South is 4-0 for the first time since 2022.
West has won its first four games for the first time since 2016. The Cowboys won only five games the past two seasons combined.
The Dispatch will be covering the South
and West games. Visit Dispatch.com the next morning to read our takeaways.
On Sept. 18, our coverage will feature Gahanna Lincoln at Hilliard Darby, Olentangy Berlin at Westerville Central and Pickerington North at Olentangy Orange.
All five of these games are featured in our Predictions Panel’s Week 5 picks.
After having only one Lone Wolf pick last week – Ryan Baker lost it when Newark fell at Groveport, dropping the panel to 4-8 for the season – we have five this week. See all our Week 5 picks below.
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Central Ohio high school football predictions Week 5
Sept. 17
Independence (1-3, 0-1) at South (4-0, 1-0)
Independence: Eric Frantz
South: Ryan Baker, Steve Blackledge, Lee Cochran, Frank DiRenna, Scott Gerfen, Dave Purpura, Kurt Snyder, Dave Weidig, Tom Wilson
West (4-0, 1-0) at Africentric (1-3, 1-0)
West: Baker, Cochran, DiRenna, Purpura, Wilson
Africentric: Blackledge, Frantz, Gerfen, Snyder, Weidig
Sept. 18
Bloom-Carroll (2-2, 1-0) at Fairfield Union (3-1, 1-0)
Bloom-Carroll: Baker, Blackledge, Cochran, DiRenna, Frantz, Purpura
Fairfield Union: Gerfen, Snyder, Weidig, Wilson
Buckeye Valley (3-1) at Hartley (1-3)
Buckeye Valley: Baker, Blackledge, Cochran, DiRenna, Frantz, Gerfen, Purpura, Weidig
Hartley: Snyder, Wilson
Canal Winchester (2-2, 1-0) at Pickerington Central (1-3, 1-0)
Canal: Purpura
Central: Baker, Blackledge, Cochran, DiRenna, Frantz, Gerfen, Snyder, Weidig, Wilson
Columbus Academy (2-2) at Worthington Christian (3-1)
Academy: Unanimous pick
Gahanna Lincoln (4-0) at Hilliard Darby (3-1)
Gahanna: Unanimous pick
Grove City (3-1) at Dublin Coffman (1-3)
Grove City: Baker, Blackledge, Cochran, DiRenna, Frantz, Gerfen, Purpura, Weidig, Wilson
Coffman: Snyder
Groveport (3-1, 1-0) at Lancaster (1-3, 1-0)
Groveport: Baker, Blackledge, Cochran, DiRenna, Frantz, Gerfen, Purpura, Snyder, Weidig
Lancaster: Wilson
Heath (3-1) at Watkins Memorial (2-2)
Heath: Baker, Cochran, DiRenna, Frantz, Purpura, Wilson
Watkins: Blackledge, Gerfen, Snyder, Weidig
Mount Gilead (3-1, 1-0) at Danville (4-0, 1-0)
Danville: Unanimous pick
Olentangy Berlin (2-2) at Westerville Central (3-1)
Berlin: Baker, Blackledge, Cochran, Frantz, Gerfen, Snyder, Weidig, Wilson
Central: DiRenna, Purpura
Pickerington North (3-1) at Olentangy Orange (2-2)
North: Baker, Blackledge, Cochran, DiRenna, Frantz, Gerfen, Purpura, Snyder, Weidig
Orange: Wilson
Teays Valley (1-3, 0-1) at Reynoldsburg (1-3, 0-1)
Teays: Baker, Blackledge, Cochran, Snyder
Reynoldsburg: DiRenna, Frantz, Gerfen, Purpura, Weidig, Wilson
Westerville North (2-2) at Delaware Hayes (2-2, 0-1)
North: Unanimous pick
Standings through Week 4
Snyder: 12-3 last week; 48-17 overall
Cochran: 12-3; 46-19
Blackledge: 11-4; 44-21
Weidig: 12-3; 42-23
DiRenna: 10-5; 42-23
Purpura: 13-2; 41-24
Frantz: 12-3; 41-24
Baker: 11-4; 41-24
Wilson: 11-4; 41-24
Gerfen: 10-5; 39-26
High school sports editor Andy Resnik can be reached at aresnik@dispatch.com and at @DispatchPreps on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Top central Ohio high school football games in Week 5, and our predictions
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