Lima Senior’s Ja’naius Hall lets go a pass during Friday night’s game against Piqua. Hall completed 29 of 44 pass attempts for 423 yards with four touchdowns in the Spartans’ 36-31 victory.
Robbin Kiser | Aim Media Midwest
Coaches are always watching the progress of their teams from the opening week to the second game and the squads will look to either continue the momentum gained in the opening week or look to rebound from the loss of week one.
Two area leagues, the Western Buckeye and Northwest Central conferences, begin play and even though it is early in the season, past trends have shown these could be the games that decide the league champions.
Findlay (0-1) at Lima Senior (1-0)
The Bill Lawrence era at Lima Senior began with a victory as the five wide receivers offense saw the Spartans’ passing game lead them to a big 36-31 win over Piqua.
Led by quarterback Ja’niaus Hall, who was 29 for 44 for 423 yards with four touchdowns and one interception, the Spartan offense shined. Hall had scoring tosses of 62, 21 and two for 38 yards in the win.
Receiver Chance Sanders had nine catches for 136 yards and two touchdowns.
Lima Senior’s defense also got in the on the big play with Jermaine Maxwell’s 70 yard fumble recovery for a touchdown.
The Spartans will face familiar rival Findlay this week. The Trojans are coming off a 47-14 loss to Toledo Central Catholic. The highly recruited Findlay quarterback Ryan Montgomery will look to bounce back from a shaky outing against TCC where he was 29 of 51 for 266 yards and one TD. He also had a rushing touchdown.
Findlay has won the last five meetings by a combined score of 183-31. The last time Lima Senior beat the Trojans was in 2017, 62-38.
Lima Central Catholic (1-0) at Delphos St. John’s (1-0)
Both teams come into the gridiron version of the holy war with impressive opening week wins.
LCC downed Shawnee 42-14 as T-Bird quarterback Carson Palmer picked up where he left off from last year as the senior signal caller rushed for 138 yards and three touchdowns and passed for 206 yards and three touchdowns with one interception.
T-Bird receiver Billy Bourk hauled in four catches for 187 yards and two scores.
Delphos St. John’s bumped off city rival Delphos Jefferson 45-6 in its opener.
The Blue Jays showed a balanced attack with 167 yards through the air and 90 yards on the ground and quarterback Grant Ulm connected for three scores.
The T-Birds have won the last five meetings on the field with the Blue Jays’ last win over LCC coming in 2017. DSJ was forced to forfeit in 2020 because of COVID concerns.
St. Marys (0-1) at Celina (0-1)
The Battle for Grand Lake has both teams coming in with similar fates in the first week of the season.
Both teams were shut out by Midwest Athletic Conference schools.
St. Henry downed St. Marys by limiting the Roughriders to 71 yards on the ground and Versailles blanked Celina 26-0.
Last season, the Bulldogs came up short against the Roughriders, 28-21, and this was the closest contest Celina has given St. Marys since defeating the Roughriders in 2015. In three of those games, the Roughriders shut out Celina.
Boys soccer
Shawnee (0-0) at Lexington (0-1)
Shawnee comes into the year as the 2022 Division II state champion and one might attribute it to playing Lexington in an annual affair.
On their way to the state crown, the Indians downed Lexington 2-1 during the regular season and then downed them 2-1 in the regional semifinals.
It was the fourth straight season the two teams have met at the regional level. Lexington won in 2019 and 2021.
Since 2017, Lexington and Shawnee have met 10 times and are tied 5-5 in those meetings.
This week’s games
(All Friday kickoffs scheduled for 7 p.m.; subject to change)
Friday
NWCC
Crestline at Waynesfield-Goshen
North Baltimore at Hardin Northern
Ridgemont at Perry
Upper Scioto Valley at Cory-Rawson
WBL
Bath at Van Wert
Elida at Shawnee
Ottawa-Glandorf at Kenton
St. Marys at Celina
Wapakoneta at Defiance
Elsewhere
Ada at Riverdale
Arlington at Allen East
Ayersville at Delphos Jefferson
Bellefontaine at Coldwater
Crestview at McComb
Findlay at Lima Senior
Franklin at Marion Local
Liberty-Benton at Columbus Grove
Mechanicsburg at New Bremen
Minster at Graham
Pandora-Gilboa at Bluffton
Parkway at North Central
Paulding at Spencerville
St. Henry at Archbold
Urbana at Fort Recovery
Van Buren at Leipsic
Saturday
Lima Central Catholic at Delphos St. John’s, 1:30 p.m.
Last week’s scores
Pandora-Gilboa 25, Columbus Grove 22
Delphos St. John’s 45, Delphos Jefferson 6
Lima Central Catholic 42, Shawnee 14
Arlington 27, Hardin Northern 7
Bluffton 42, Bellefontaine Benjamin Logan 7
Versailles 26, Celina 0
Crestview 41, Parkway 27
Minster 41, Fort Loramie 28
Wayne Trace 32, Fort Recovery 30
Coldwater 29, Kenton 12
Leipsic 25, Millbury Lake 19
Lima Senior 36, Piqua 31
Marion Local 29, Wapakoneta 26
McComb 42, Allen East 7
Bath 14, New Bremen 7
Eastwood 21, Ottawa-Glandorf 18
Lehman Catholic 76, Perry 6
Spencerville 28, Ridgemont 12
St. Henry 17, St. Marys 0
Elida 42, Toledo Rogers 6
Ada 24, Upper Scioto Valley 22
Van Wert 47, Bryan 21
Waynesfield-Goshen 42, Mississinawa Valley 0
Reach The Lima News sports department at 567-242-0451.
