Around 270: Friday's Top Games

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Football is officially back in Central Ohio. With 75 games taking place around the area on Friday, let's take a look at some of the top games that Week 1 has to offer. For the complete Week 1 schedule, click here.

Columbus City League

Africentric at East

Friday is a big test between two schools only separated by three miles but in two separate divisions in the City League. Africentric comes in with high expectations as the Nubians finally broke through last season and had its best campaign in school history.

The Nubians are looking to start off hot on the road against an East program that is also on the rise. Look for this to be a big matchup to determine who gets Broad Street bragging rights on the east side of town.

Independence 54, Northland 6

OCC

Pickerington Central 26, Massillon Washington 7

Warsaw (IN) 48, Dublin Coffman 23

Steubenville 22, Olentangy Liberty 7

Upper Arlington 42, Reynoldsburg 41

Canal Winchester 25, Groveport 3

Olentangy Berlin 17, DeSales 12

Westerville South 29, Olentangy 17

Best of the Rest

Worthington Kilbourne 43, walnut ridge 0

Pickerington North 23, Lancaster 10

Hilliard darby 17, Olentangy Orange 0

Dublin Scioto 29, Grove City 27

Westerville Central 14, Westerville North 7

Mid-State League

Harvest Prep 60, Eastmoor Academy 34

Newark Catholic 34, Bishop Ready 8

Amanda-Clearcreek 17, Jonathan Alder 7

Heath 20, Liberty Union 13

Licking County League

Sheridan 35, Licking Valley 30

Central Buckeye Conference

St. Mary's Memorial 10, London 7

Recent News

Head Coach Geron Stokes Returns to Urbana

By Gee Dowlen 01/21/2026, 7:45pm EST

Stokes goes to familiar territory to resume his coaching career

URBANA – Geron Stokes is back. Not just on the sidelines, but at his alma mater as well.

The two-time state champion coach will put the headset back on, as he returns to Urbana, where he graduated, and eventually coached from 2009-2012. Stokes went 29-13 in those years. He also has ties to the city of Urbana dating back to his college years, as he played quarterback at Urbana University.

“His emphasis on discipline, accountability and character aligns strongly with the values of our district and athletic program,” Urbana Superintendent Charles Thiel wrote in a statement.

“We are excited to welcome Coach Stokes back to our school community as a coach and look forward to the positive impact he will have on our students, athletes and program for years to come.”

Stokes won a pair of state championships at Minster, winning the Division VI state championship in 2014, and the Division VII state championship in 2017. Before leaving for Dublin Coffman, Stokes finished his Minster career with a 71-31 record.

At Dublin Coffman, Stokes finished with a 25-25 record, winning just four games in his final season as the head man for the Shamrocks. However, he ended his campaign with an impressive three game playoff run that saw Dublin Coffman win two games as an underdog 14-seed. He also won an OCC-Central title in 2022, going 7-4 that year. While his years in the OCC may have come to an end, Stokes never had plans of hanging it up for good.

“I’m going to coach,” he told the Columbus Dispatch last year. “There’s certain environments and certain places that have or want high standards. I’ll find that. I’m a football coach.”

One season later, the Urbana job opened up, and Stokes was ready for it.

The Hillclimbers are coming off of a 3-7 season under Carleton Cotner. They’ll look to find their footing in the CBL-Kenton Trail, with key players such as quarterback and Ohio State baseball commit Grady Lantz, and leading receiver B.J. Potter returning next season. Urbana finished fourth in 2025.

Lancaster Swings Big with Jeremy McKinney

By Gee Dowlen 01/08/2026, 7:00pm EST

McKinney Brings High Expectations to Lancaster

LANCASTER – The city of Lancaster holds rich football history amongst their high school football programs, but no one has been waiting to get back on their feet more than the Golden Gales of Lancaster High School.

The Division I representatives in Lancaster have been stuck at the bottom of the OCC for a while now. Since 2020, they’ve only seen 17 wins, and haven’t won as many as six games since 2018. A significant fall off for a program that consistently won that many games every year throughout the 2000s, including a 10-win season in 2006.

Jeremy McKinney, now former head coach of Bloom-Carroll, has deep roots in Lancaster and its surrounding area. McKinney is a Fisher Catholic graduate with over 20 years of coaching experience at his alma mater as well as Fairfield Union and Lancaster under assistant roles.

McKinney led Bloom-Carroll to 41 wins in 53 games in four years. In that time, he won the MSL-Buckeye each year, 9 playoff games, and won a regional title en route to a Division III state championship appearance.

McKinney plans to start by bringing in a new coaching staff in hopes of getting the most of the current talent supply in the program, while also resetting the expectations for the underclassmen who will be at the forefront of Lancaster’s rebuild.

With his glowing resume, McKinney feels a perfect fit for Lancaster, as he looks to bring them back into relevance in the OCC, and a program that competes for the playoffs every year.

270 Alumni in the NFL Playoffs

By Gee Dowlen 01/06/2025, 9:00pm EST

A look at who's in the NFL playoffs out of Central Ohio

Licking Heights Hires Northland’s Ryan Sayers as Head Coach

By Gee Dowlen 01/07/2026, 7:45pm EST

Ryan Sayers Accepts New Challenge at Licking Heights

PATASKALA – Ryan Sayers has stepped out of his Northland office for the last time.

After six years, Sayers announced his departure in a statement via Instagram, before Licking Heights announced his hiring shortly after.

“Northland will always be a second home for me. It is where I started my career, my family, and grew into the man I am today. Once a Viking, always a Viking.”

Sayers took the Northland program on an incredible City League run since taking over in 2020. He finished his Viking career with a 34-27 overall record, with 27 of those wins coming against City League opponents. He split two City League North titles in 2022 and 2024, and made the playoffs in five of his six seasons as head coach. In 2023, he led Northland to an outright City League North title, and their first home playoff game in school history, finishing the year with a 9-2 record.

Last season, Sayers and the Vikings finished with a 7-4 record, good enough for second-place in the City League North.

Before his days at Northland, Sayers was an assistant coach at Pickerington North. He’s also a co-host of the ‘614 Headsets’ podcast with Gahanna Lincoln assistants, Kyle Stout and Donovan White.

Sayers takes over a Licking Heights program that has not seen much success in recent years. Under previous head coach Austin Drewyor, the Hornets have only won 8 games, finishing with a 2-8 record in 2025.

Despite the struggles, Sayers has expressed excitement to build under a new community, with new resources, and a program that he can build from within lower levels of the school district.

Tigers Leave No Doubt

By Jalen Wells 11/14/2025, 11:30pm EST