Week 1 Preview: Cincinnati

Cincinnati, Ohio is home to some of the best high school football programs in the country.  Over the years, countless players from Cincy have gone on to play Division 1 football in college and then at the NFL level.  In 2021, there are several talented players from the Queen City looking to get on the radar of college recruiters.  Week 1 begins this week in what looks to be the beginning of an exciting football season.  Many of the games during week 1 will feature players who have committed to Power 5 schools.  Here are five games to watch in Cincinnati in week 1. St. Xavier vs Lakota West The Bombers of St. Xavier begin the 2021 season against the Firebirds of Lakota West.  St. Xavier is the #1 ranked team in the state and the 23rd ranked team nationally and Lakota West is the #2 ranked team in the state.  In 2020, St. Xavier finished at 10-2 and won the Division 1 state championship.  Offensively, they averaged 35.75 ppg and gave up 17.92 ppg.  Last season, Lakota West finished at 8-1 and made it to the 4th round of the playoffs where they were eliminated by St. Xavier.  On offense, they averaged 25.56 ppg while giving up only 5.67 ppg on defense and never gave up more than 14 points in any game while posting 4 shutouts.  The players from the Prep Redzone rankings in this game include OL [player_tooltip player_id="34416" first="Brian" last="Parker"], QB [player_tooltip player_id="91531" first="Brogan" last="McCaughey"], OL [player_tooltip player_id="34432" first="Cameron" last="Collins"], DB [player_tooltip player_id="34451" first="Joshua" last="Anderson"], DL [player_tooltip player_id="129156" first="Sam" last="Buerkle"], DB [player_tooltip player_id="34419" first="Eli" last="Clark"], RB [player_tooltip player_id="131646" first="Charles" last="Kellom"] and LB [player_tooltip player_id="106898" first="Grant" last="Lyons"] from St. Xavier and DB [player_tooltip player_id="34377" first="Jyaire" last="Brown"], OL [player_tooltip player_id="34373" first="Tegra" last="Tshabola"], DB [player_tooltip player_id="34385" first="Alex" last="Afari"] and LB [player_tooltip player_id="91598" first="Aden" last="Miller"] from Lakota West. Colerain vs La Salle On Friday night, the Colerain Cardinals will play the La Salle Lancers.  In 2020, Colerain finished at 6-3 and advanced to the 3rd round of the playoffs.  They averaged 24.11 ppg and gave up 12.67 ppg.  Last season, La Salle finished at 8-3 and advanced to the state semi-finals.  They averaged 32.82 ppg and scored 42 or more points 4 times while giving up 20.64 ppg.  The players in the Prep Redzone rankings in this game are WR [player_tooltip player_id="128147" first="Isaiah" last="Myers"], RB [player_tooltip player_id="34469" first="MJ" last="Flowers"] and LB [player_tooltip player_id="120382" first="Levert" last="Jarmon"] from Colerain and RB [player_tooltip player_id="34376" first="Gi’Bran" last="Payne"] and OL [player_tooltip player_id="34464" first="Paul" last="Haywood"] from La Salle. Archbishop Moeller vs Lakota East The Fighting Crusaders of Archbishop Moeller play the Thunderhawks of Lakota East in week 1 in what looks to be an exciting game.  Archbishop Moeller finished last season at 3-6 but advanced to the 2nd round of the playoffs and won 2 of their last 3 games while scoring 93 points in those 2 victories (46.5 ppg) and hope to build on that momentum in 2021.  Lakota East finished 2020 at 4-4 and also advanced to the 2nd round of the playoffs.  They started 0-3 but won 4 in a row before losing to their rival Lakota West in the playoffs.  The players from the rankings in this game are TE [player_tooltip player_id="34391" first="Josh" last="Kattus"], DL [player_tooltip player_id="129154" first="Chase" last="Brown"], RB [player_tooltip player_id="34485" first="Gabe" last="Goins"] and WR [player_tooltip player_id="34407" first="Brandon" last="White"] from Archbishop Moeller and TE [player_tooltip player_id="34415" first="Charlie" last="Kenrich"] from Lakota East. Anderson vs Princeton On Thursday night, the Anderson Raptors will play the Princeton Vikings.  In 2020,  Anderson finished at 7-3 and advanced to the 3rd round of the playoffs.  They averaged 38.2 ppg and scored at least 29 points in 9 of their 10 games.  Princeton finished last season at 6-2 and advanced to the 2nd round of the playoffs.  They averaged 36.5 ppg and scored at least 21 points in 7 of their 8 games.  The players from the rankings in this game are WR [player_tooltip player_id="34398" first="Rodney" last="Harris"] and QB [player_tooltip player_id="34452" first="Mekhi" last="Lynn"] from Princeton and TE [player_tooltip player_id="138628" first="Brody" last="Foley"] and LB [player_tooltip player_id="34418" first="Casey" last="O’Toole"] from Anderson. Hamilton vs West Clermont The Hamilton Big Blue will play the West Clermont Wolves on Friday night.  Last season, Hamilton finished at 6-4 and ended the season with an impressive 3 game win streak.  During that win streak, they outscored their opponents by a combined 94-14.  West Clermont finished the 2020 season at 3-5 but won 2 of their last 3 games after starting the season 1-4.  The players from the rankings in this game are WR [player_tooltip player_id="141069" first="Breeon" last="Ishmail"] and RB [player_tooltip player_id="34393" first="Kaleb" last="Johnson"] both from Hamilton