Steven Wright | Greene County News
Fairborn senior Cameron Faircloth (5) will try to help his team overpower a tough Butler squad in Miami Valley League action this week as week seven of the high school football season arrives.
XENIA — Xenia has not needed to prove its capable of being resilient much this season, but was able to dig deep when it was called for two weeks ago. This week could be another time for that ability to show up.
The next road test presents itself to the Buccaneers on Friday when it travels to play Troy. The Trojans have a deceiving 3-3 overall record, boasting the third best point differential of Miami Valley League teams.
Troy has size everywhere and the prowess to play any opponent tough. All three of its losses have been under 10 points and the Trojans led unbeaten Tippecanoe for most of the second half of their matchup just two weeks ago.
Aiden Kirkpatrick is an experienced quarterback that can be leaned on in either attacking phase of the offense for Troy. He is responsible for 15 total touchdowns for Troy and has twice as many rushing attempts than any other member of his offense. He also is completing 63 percent of his passes, a number that has come down after going 1-for-5 in last week’s driving rain and wind, and has only one interception.
The Trojans’ defense may prove to be the best challenge Xenia’s rushing attack has faced this season. Troy is allowing fewer than 100 yards per game on the ground but has yet to face any of the top three rushing offenses in the league. Whether Troy’s defense driving down opponent’s numbers is the cause may be figured out on Friday.
Deaunte White for Xenia has five games with more rushing yardage than all but one of Troy’s opponents. He is currently on pace to break the school’s single season rushing record before the final week of the regular season and has scored at least three touchdowns on the ground in five straight games.
The Xenia defense has shown a tendency to start games off slow, but have been second half warriors. Opponents have scored nine total points against the Buccaneers during the third and fourth quarters, with an early field goal by Butler and a touchdown during a clock running situation by Stebbins as the only points allowed in six games. Overall, the Buccaneers rank second in Division II across the state in fewest points allowed this season.
The road team has won the last two matchups, a trend Xenia hopes will continue to happen on Friday.
Beavercreek (3-3) at Springboro (4-2)
Beavercreek isn’t set up to play catch up as it learned in its loss a week ago, but it was the first time its own mistakes were the culprit for the deficit the team faced. When the Beavers move the ball well, they will continue to stay within striking distance of any opponent.
Springboro played GWOC leader Springfield close last week and has done well against a difficult schedule to this point. Max Miller leads the league in passing yardage and has the top two receivers in Brayden Wilhite and Jaxon Long.
Franklin (3-3) at Bellbrook (5-1)
Bellbrook went the entire month of September with its defense allowing a grand total of three points. The Golden Eagles rank fourth in the state for D-III teams in points per game allowed because of that success.
Franklin controlled the ground game to pick up a big win a week ago against Monroe. The Wildcats have been a bit of all or nothing, blowing out opponents in wins but not scoring more than seven points in losses.
Carroll (4-2) at Badin (4-2)
Everything stalled for Carroll’s offense last week, only passing for 14 yards outside of a 50-yard touchdown throw to be held way below its season average.
Badin’s offense is as high powered as was seen in the previous years, but it has plenty of talent. Lem Grayson carries the rock well to open the passing game for Colt Emerson to complete nearly 70 percent of his throws. The defense has not allowed more than 17 points to any opponent.
Catholic Central (2-4) at Cedarville (2-4)
Both sides have gotten to this point on a similar trajectory with good starts turning into recent struggles. Cedarville’s offense averaged more than 30 points per game early in the year but has now been under 10 per game in its last three losses.
Catholic Central has been balanced on offense and recently made a quarterback change with Brody Adams taking over after leading the team in rushing. The Irish won its two openers but has lost to each OHC team it has faced so far.
Butler (4-2) at Fairborn (2-4)
Consistency is the biggest issue for the Skyhawks as of late. When Fairborn gets moving, things spiral downhill quickly for the opposition but too often Fairborn finds itself behind the sticks to keep the pressure on opposing defenses.
Butler has stayed close with the two MVL leaders and established itself as the best of the rest. Braylen Crump has been a dangerous perimeter target to keep tabs on, while Riley Seibert has been a tackling machine as of late for the Aviators.
Southeastern (2-4) at Greeneview (6-0)
The Rams are back in the state rankings this week. The defense has allowed one touchdown over the last 11 quarters. The offense has rushed for more than 500 yards than any other OHC team. Greeneview is marching toward a special season.
Southeastern has yet to play a game with the final margin being close than 20 points this season. Hayden Davis has been a solid two-way player for Southeastern, rushing for nearly 500 yards on offense and is second in the league for tackles with 63 on defense.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Our top performer from Greene County for Week 6 of the season is Bellbrook senior Kelvin Okechukwu-Ozor. He made 10 tackles, eight of which were solo, to go with two sacks and three tackles for loss in a 13-0 win at Edgewood.
Contact Steven Wright at 937-502-4498 and follow on X (formerly Twitter) @Steven_Wright_.
