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Best Bets: Week 5 – Cincinnati

The GCL South features its first league game of the season when Moeller hosts St. Xavier on Friday.

In the wide-open ECC, two pivotal matchups will help establish that conference’s leaders while Reading and Indian Hill try to keep pace with Wyoming in the CHL.

Here are the Best Bets for Cincinnati in Week 5:

St. Xavier (4-0) at Moeller (3-1) – St. Xavier has impressed against uber-difficult non-conference opponents, but it faces its GCL South foes each of the next three weeks. The Bombers are allowing just 183.3 yards per game, and an average of only 70 passing. St. Xavier throws the ball 44 percent of time, and QB Chase Wolf is 69-100-743 with nine touchdowns and no picks. Cameron Specht has been an integral part of the short passing game, catching 29 passes for 183 yards. Moeller also passes at a 44-percent clip, and Miles McBride has completed a ridiculous 76.2 percent of his attempts. He has 16 TD passes this year already. Four Crusaders receivers have at least three touchdowns catches. St. Xavier has won the past four meetings, but each has been decided by seven points or fewer.

Cleveland St. Ignatius (4-0) at Elder (3-1), Saturday, 2 p.m. – Unbeaten St. Ignatius has won all of its games by at least 10 points and has scored 34 or more points three straight weekends. Elder was 3-0 heading into last week but was spanked by Cleveland St. Edward, 40-7. These teams have not played each other in recent years, as the Panthers take on a team with “St.” in its name for the second consecutive week, with St. Xavier on the docket next week.

Milford (3-1) at Loveland (1-3) – The top four teams in the ECC all face each other this weekend. Milford has already surpassed its 2016 win total and is coming off a 14-7 win over Turpin. The Eagles are second in the conference in passing yards but last in rushing yards. Blake King has already thrown 102 passes (Milford has 105 pass attempts as a team) and has passed for 781 yards, with both Jake Ayler and Cameron Kells pulling in over 200 receiving yards. Loveland’s offense has been anemic, averaging a league-worst 136 yards per game and 29.3 in the air. But the Tigers won by 24 over Withrow last week following an 0-3 start. The Tigers won by 13 when these teams met last year.

West Clermont (2-2) at Kings (1-3) – First-year school West Clermont has a chance to drop conference power Kings to 1-4 and 0-2 in ECC play. The Wolves beat Princeton at home but dropped their next two before pounding Walnut Hills in their first-ever league game last week. It’s been all about the run game for West Clermont, which has thrown 17 passes in four games. Austin Maham is an emerging star for the Wolves, as he rushed 10 times for 120 yards last week on a team averaging just 3.4 yards per carry. Kings’ Nakemon Williams leads the conference in rushing yards, gaining 581 yards on 67 carries and scoring nine touchdowns. He also averages over 31 yards per kickoff return.

Reading (3-1) at Indian Hill (3-1) – A battle between two of the four CHL teams to win their conference openers last week. Reading has won its last three and has allowed only 40 points all season. As the full-time QB, Johnny Miller is 26 of 35 (74.3 percent) for 310 yards the past two weeks. WR Mancini Jackson is second in the league with 303 receiving yards. Indian Hill passes 53 percent of the time, and Cole Dein has thrown for 953 yards and eight touchdowns. Tennyson Holmes has led the Braves’ rushing attack with 461 ground yards and three TDs.

Harrison (3-1) at Edgewood (3-1) – The only two teams with three wins and a 1-0 league record vie for SWOC supremacy. Harrison’s Frankie Young leads the conference with 1,005 passing yards, and his completion percentage is 64.5. His top target, Levi Tidwell, has 26 catches for a league-best 325 yards. Edgewood’s Wade Phillips has more than twice as many rushing yards as any other SWOC back – he has gained 604 yards and scored eight times.

Springfield (3-1) at Lebanon (2-2) – Springfield was 3-0 in non-conference play but fell to Centerville in its league opener. The GWOC East is 18-2, with one of the losses being Springfield’s 12-point defeat at the hands of the Elks. On a team that throws over half the time, Wildcats’ WR Caleb Johnson leads the entire conference in receiving yards (469), and he’s hauled in four TDs. Lebanon also passes the majority of its plays, and QB Kyle Short has thrown for 663 yards, with top target Derrick Allen pulling down 19 catches for 374 yards and six scores. This is the first National West game for both teams.

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