Best Bets: Week 1

The 2024 high school football season is upon us and every team’s morale is high with hopes of a state championship. Players and coaches have put in the work and now is the time to make a statement and see just how much that work has paid out. Teams and communities alike hope that it pays well and with a celebration in the winner’s circle in November. Whatever the final outcome may be, all teams are excited for a prominent season.

Week one is jam packed with riveting big-time matchups that can go a long way in providing early season momentum. In Sharonville, Princeton hosts Moeller in a game of much anticipation. Badin and Hamilton renew their crosstown rivalry for a second straight season in Butler County. Across the bridge in Kentucky, Covington Catholic and Ryle do battle for bragging rights and next door in Indiana, Lawrenceburg and East Central match up in a rivalry game.

What teams will start the season with a bang? Here are this week’s Best Bets.

#2 MOELLER at #1 PRINCETON

What a matchup to kick off the 2024 season as two teams with major championship aspirations face off. The Vikings and Crusaders are no strangers to one another as this is a rivalry that goes back to the 70’s and 80’s. The game was electric then and it will undoubtedly be electric now.

Leading the charge for Moeller will be a once again high-powered offense. The Crusaders averaged 31.8 PPG a year ago and will look to be even more efficient this season. Two-year starter Matt Ponatoski has the weapons to do it with Jovan Love and Roman Mason as his top targets on the perimeter.

Defensively Moeller plans to once again be stout and lead opposing offenses down a negative path. DL Thomas Gerke and LB Conner Cuozzo return to anchor the defense. DB Micah Rice is always lurking in the secondary to make a big play as well. Moeller held opponents to 16.6 PPG in 2023.

Princeton’s defense gave up only 11 PPG  in the tough GMC in 2023. They’ll look to build off that impressive performance this season. LB P.J. Nelson will be everywhere for the defensive unit and continue to wreck offensive gameplans. DE Khy’lek Jarrett and DL Jaimion Olverson can get to the QB in a heartbeat and cause headaches for any offense.

On offense QB De’Angelo Birch has plenty of options at his disposal for the Vikings to be top notch once again. Antonio Hunter, Landon Miree, David Hambrick, and Teryntino Brown-Freeman all return to any offense that averaged 29.7 PPG last season and could hit the big play at any time.

This one is talent on talent and whichever team does the little things well should decide who prevails.

#9 HAMILTON at #23 BADIN (at Fairfield High School, Saturday)

A crosstown rivalry always does the trick to get the juices flowing on both sides. Everyone in Hamilton will be ready to go when Badin and Hamilton hook up for a second consecutive season.

Hamilton returns just about everyone from last year’s best season in school history. A stingy defense and efficient offense is the plan for success and they have all the tools to be even better this season. R.J. Shepherd has big play ability for the offense and the defense is full of talent with the likes of Trey Verdon, Gracen Goldsmith, and CJ Bryant. Fairfield transfer DB/WR Noah King should shut down one side of the field completely.

Badin has been as consistent as any team in the area over the last several seasons. They add toughness and discipline to that as well and make for a tough team to beat. The defense will be a catalyst early on as they have been great under coach Yordy. They give up just under 10.0 PPG and have had 11 shutouts during his tenure. Royce Rachel will be a problem defensively and Lem Grayson will be leaned on in the physical running game as a new quarterback under center is getting his feet wet.

Expect smashmouth football in this intense rivalry. This one could go either way but expect Hamilton to exact some revenge in a low scoring affair.

#12 COVINGTON CATHOLIC at #16 RYLE

Two northern Kentucky programs with rich tradition will settle things on the field in a week one bluegrass tilt. You can count on a big crowd and excited atmosphere for this matchup.

Ryle, although successful, didn’t have their typical season last year with an 8-5 record. Experience could get them over the hump this season as they return a wealth of players. The Raiders return 10 starters on defense and eight on offense. Replacing QB Logan Verax will be a tall task, but it can be argued that no one is in a better position to do that than his little brother Nathan Verax. He’ll get the keys to lead this hungry Raiders squad.

CovCath came up one game short of the ultimate prize in 2023. They also lost a ton of high level and experienced players that helped them get there. The Colonels plan a reload rather than a rebuild in 2024. CovCath may lean on their defense early and Tate Kruer should be in the middle of many plays defensively. The Colonels will need some younger guys with little experience to grow up quickly to keep their offense as potent as it has been in years past.

There are many question marks on both sides and that makes this a tough call. By making a run to the title game last year, give the edge to Covington Catholic.

LAWRENCEBURG at #10 EAST CENTRAL

The Lawrenceburg and East Central rivalry hasn’t been much of a competitive game since the 2017 season. This week one battle has been dominated by the Trojans and this is something that the Tigers would obviously like to change.

If the Tigers want to pull the upset, they’ll need to have a big game defensively. Lawrenceburg struggled last season after a phenomenal 2022. They will look to Noah Knigga to be their guy and make plays to lead the defense in week one and truly all season long. Lawrenceburg has to replace a ton of offensive experience including the all-important quarterback position. The Trojans will hope to replace the production of former start running back Josh Ringer. Their top wide receiver and starting quarterback will also be new faces but a reload for Jake Meiners is well within the realm of possibility.

East Central has had the Tiger’s number in recent years and the best bet is that the same outcome will continue. This edition however should be a lot closer.

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GAME OF THE WEEK
Make sure to check out the COMPLETE PREVIEW for this week’s featured game on the Blitz 5 Tour,  No. 4 St. Xavier at No. 3 Lakota West

Here are some other games for teams ranked inside the Blitz 5 Top 25:

OHIO

No. 6 Winton Woods at Springfield

No. 8 Elder at No. 20 Withrow

No. 11 Mason at Gahanna Lincoln

Sycamore at No. 13 Kings

No. 14 La Salle at Colerain

Edgewood at No. 15 Milford

Centerville at No. 18 Lakota East

No. 19 Middletown at Troy

KENTUCKY

Bardstown at No. 7 Cooper

Lexington Catholic at No. 16 Highlands

No. 25 Beechwood at Pulaski County

 

 

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