Preview: Talawanda football takes on Harrison for major rivalry, in-conference matchup

The Talawanda High School football team has had an eventful last couple of weeks, both losing for the first time this season to the Ross High School Rams and beginning conference play against the undefeated Northwest High School Knights. 

The Brave emerged victorious from its most recent game, bringing the team’s record to 6-1 on the season and 1-0 in conference play – but that’s only the beginning. Now, they enter a rivalry matchup against another 6-1 conference team, the Harrison High School Wildcats.

The last time these two programs faced each other ended in defeat for Talawanda. Last season’s game was one of two losses for the Brave, and it was the only contest of the year where they were shutout. A run game that was lethal all season couldn’t get off the ground, and the Wildcats secondary was well prepared for everything that was thrown at them.

Now, Talawanda can try to correct course and earn another victory on the road this weekend.

Following their shocking 14-7 loss to the Ross Rams, the Brave offense emerged through two running backs, junior Ethan Hainline and sophomore Brody Abney, in the following week’s win against Northwest. Both rushed for over 100 yards and scored all five of the team’s touchdowns: Hainline with three and Abney with two.

Sophomore quarterback Jake Van Gorden completed seven passes on 11 attempts for 80 yards.

Hainline leads the Brave with 545 yards on 75 carries, averaging around 78 yards per game this season. And while Van Gorden statistically didn’t meet his 174.4 yards per game average against Northwest and was just under his 70.9% season completion percentage, the sophomore's 1,221 passing yards are still 47th in the state.

“We just ran into a (Ross team) that played really well, and we didn’t take care of some of the opportunities that were presented to us,” Talawanda Head Coach Andy Stuckert said. “It ended up in a loss for us, which we’re not used to, and we never want to get used to. But out of that there was some good stuff. There were some things that came out of the result that we could take back as a team and realize that talent alone isn’t going to win a football game.

“We took that into the following week against Northwest and put a gameplan together, and the kids played really well in all three phases until about a minute left in the game when we had some breakdowns, but the game was kind of in hand at that point. The final score ended up a lot closer than the game really was, but we’ll take the win nonetheless.”

With the losing taste now out of their mouths, the Talawanda football team heads south for a rivalry matchup against Harrison, who could be the Brave’s biggest test of the regular season.

Under Head Coach Derek Rehage, the Wildcats program has been nothing short of the standard. The team has won at least nine games in the last three seasons and three straight Southwest Ohio Conference (SWOC) titles. In their last 10 conference games, Harrison is undefeated. 

Like the Brave, the Wildcats defense has been the star of the show. The most points they allowed was to Division I Beavercreek High School who posted 28. However, Harrison still defeated them by a score of 33-28. 

And while Talawanda was losing to Ross, Harrison was losing to East Central High School. On the same Friday, both teams fell in one-score games, with the Wildcats losing by a field goal, 24-21, despite a 21-7 lead at halftime. 

East Central’s program is high-caliber, and losing to them by a field goal is not something the Brave should take lightly. The Trojans are 6-1 on the season (3-0 in-conference) and 10th overall in the Indiana high school football rankings.

Despite its loss to one of the best teams in the state of Indiana, the Wildcats returned to the field last Friday and dominated. Against Mt. Healthy High School (Talawanda’s opponent next week), Harrison posted a 49-13 drubbing at home, with 42 of those points coming in the first half. 

Two of the touchdowns were rushing, scored by sophomore running back Trey Fette and senior Wyatt Dennis. The other four were through the air thanks to senior quarterback Brady Lawhon, who only played one drive in the second half.

Lawhon still finished the game with 305 yards on 12 completions and four touchdown passes.

The long ball will be a very serious threat, along with the defense on the other side of the line of scrimmage. And with the Wildcats now sitting 70th in the Ohio state high school football rankings according to MaxPreps, the 225th-ranked Brave will have a huge task ahead.

“This is obviously a big game, and … we understand what Harrison is,” Stuckert said. “They are a well-coached team with a bunch of kids who play hard and expect to win because it’s all they know. This group that’s getting ready to graduate from there has no clue what losing is. So that’s a very powerful thing on Friday nights. 

“We’re making sure that we’re fundamentally sound on offense, defense and special teams. We want to make sure that the emphasis is put on execution Friday night, not necessarily how to beat Harrison.”

With the focus internal, the Brave and Wildcats square off for an intense conference matchup at 7 p.m. ET on Oct. 9 at Harrison High School.