Olentangy Liberty may be winless, but every 0-3 start in high school football is not the same.
That could be why most of The Dispatch Predictions Panel has picked the Patriots this week against 2-1 Olentangy Berlin. Two of Liberty’s losses are by a combined four points: 15-12 to Lakewood St. Edward in Week 1 and 14-13 in overtime to Gahanna Lincoln in Week 3.
The other reason might be Liberty was in this same spot last year and defeated Berlin 10-7 to start a six-game winning streak.
Remember, these predictions are done for fun and bragging rights among the panelists, not to provide bulletin board material for any central Ohio team.
Speaking of bragging rights, Lee Cochran turned in the best performance last week, going 11-4 to gain two games on
leader Kurt Snyder. Cochran went 1-1 in Lone Wolf picks, correctly picking Marysville to beat Lancaster but taking a loss when Bloom-Carroll fell to Jonathan Alder.
Snyder won his Lone Wolf pick when Westerville North defeated Westerville Central. The combined 2-1 performance in Lone Wolf picks moved the panel to 4-7 for the season.
There is only one Lone Wolf pick this week. See all the picks below.
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Central Ohio high school football predictions Week 4
Sept. 10
Granville (2-1) at Columbus Academy (1-2)
Granville: Unanimous pick
Sept. 11
Cleveland Glenville (2-1) vs. Watterson (3-0) at Ohio Dominican
Watterson: Unanimous pick
Hilliard Davidson (1-2) at Hilliard Darby (2-1)
Darby: Unanimous pick
New Albany (2-1) at Upper Arlington (3-0)
UA: Unanimous pick
Newark (2-1) at Groveport (2-1)
Newark: Ryan Baker
Groveport: Steve Blackledge, Lee Cochran, Frank DiRenna, Eric Frantz, Scott Gerfen, Dave Purpura, Kurt Snyder, Dave Weidig, Tom Wilson
Newark Catholic (3-0) at Worthington Christian (3-0)
Newark Catholic: Baker, Cochran, Purpura, Snyder, Weidig, Wilson
Worthington Christian: Blackledge, DiRenna, Frantz, Gerfen
North Union (3-0) at Jonathan Alder (3-0)
Jonathan Alder: Unanimous pick
Olentangy Liberty (0-3) at Olentangy Berlin (2-1)
Liberty: Baker, Blackledge, DiRenna, Frantz, Purpura, Snyder, Weidig, Wilson
Berlin: Cochran, Gerfen
Olentangy Orange (2-1) at Gahanna Lincoln (3-0)
Orange: DiRenna, Weidig, Wilson
Gahanna: Baker, Blackledge, Cochran, Frantz, Gerfen, Purpura, Snyder
Ready (2-1) at St. Charles (3-0)
Ready: Baker, Wilson
St. Charles: Cochran, Blackledge, DiRenna, Frantz, Gerfen, Purpura, Snyder, Weidig
Reynoldsburg (1-2) at Canal Winchester (1-2)
Canal: Unanimous pick
Thomas Worthington (2-1) at Grove City (2-1)
Grove City: Unanimous pick
Westerville Central (2-1) at Dublin Jerome (1-2)
Central: Baker, Cochran, Frantz, Purpura, Weidig, Wilson
Jerome: Blackledge, DiRenna, Gerfen, Snyder
Westerville South (1-2) at Dublin Scioto (1-2)
South: Unanimous pick
Worthington Kilbourne (3-0) at Westland (2-1)
Kilbourne: Unanimous pick
Standings through Week 3
Snyder: 9-6 last week; 36-14 overall
Cochran: 11-4; 34-16
Blackledge: 10-5; 33-17
DiRenna: 9-6; 32-18
Wilson: 8-7; 30-20
Weidig: 9-6; 30-20
Baker: 8-7; 30-20
Frantz: 8-7; 29-21
Gerfen: 7-8; 29-21
Purpura: 8-7; 28-22
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 4, and our predictions
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