Columbus Watterson sits atop the Ohio Super 25 high school football poll released Tuesday, October 20, collecting 667 points and 23 first-place votes from a statewide panel of writers and editors ahead of Week 10, the final week of the regular season.
Cincinnati Princeton is second with 569 points, followed by Massillon Washington with 557 points and two first-place votes, Sunbury Big Walnut with 552 points and one first-place vote, and Lakewood St. Edward with 546 points and one first-place vote. Cincinnati Elder, Gahanna Lincoln, West Chester Lakota West, Cincinnati Anderson and Cincinnati Moeller round out the top ten.
The Super 25 ranks the state’s best teams regardless of division. The panel submits a top-25 ballot each week, with a first-place vote worth 25 points and a 25th-place vote worth one point, and the poll has been conducted weekly throughout the season.
Central Ohio is well represented beyond Watterson and Big Walnut. Gahanna Lincoln is seventh and Pickerington North is 18th, giving the Columbus area four teams in the poll as its programs turn toward the Ohio High School Athletic Association playoffs.
Northeast Ohio places Massillon Washington third, St. Edward fifth, Cleveland Glenville 12th, Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit 13th, Avon 15th, Wadsworth 16th, Medina Highland 19th, Lake County Perry 21st and Canton McKinley 24th, while Toledo Central Catholic is 11th and Liberty Center is 20th for Northwest Ohio.
In Southwest Ohio, Princeton leads a deep Cincinnati group that also includes Elder, Lakota West, Anderson, Moeller and Trotwood-Madison at 22nd. Ironton is 23rd for Southeast Ohio, and perennial small-school power Maria Stein Marion Local is 17th and Kirtland is 25th.
Week 10 games this Friday close the regular season and set the final playoff field. For the teams at the top of the poll, the week is both a last tune-up and a final chance to protect seeding before win-or-go-home football begins.
Watterson’s hold on the top spot gives Columbus the state’s No. 1 team entering that final Friday, a position the Eagles will have to defend on the field as the postseason bracket takes shape this weekend.
Photo: FunksBrother, CC BY-SA 4.0