National Trail Football was able to gain their 3rd straight win for the 2025 campaign this past Friday at Bradford. In a very quick game the Blazers were able to put up 55 points and allowed no scores on the defensive side. The field was short for the offense most of the night starting deep into enemy territory on most drives limiting offensive stats. The Blazers were able to add up 287 yards on 27 snaps averaging over 10 yards a snap. Leading Trail Football in this offensive effort was Jonah Brinkley with 95 rushing yards and a TD on both of his 2 carries and also a 20 yard TD catch on one lone catch. Other Significant contributors included Jody Wintrow rushing for 56 yards on 5 carries, Talon Bousman having 1 rush for 21 yards and a 7 yard TD pass, Aiden Martin rushing for a 4 yard TD and passing for a 20 yard TD, Grady Ott having 1 rush for 14 yards and a 7 Yard TD catch, Christian Miears rushing for 7 yards and Nick Silva rushing for 8 yards. Defensively Jonah Brinkley also had a standout effort with 10 tackles, 1 sack and 2.5 tackles for loss. Jason Lofton also had a big game with 5 tackles 1 sack, 2.5 tackles for loss, a fumble recovery TD for 33 yards and a interception return for a TD for 45 yards. Luke Vernon added 7 tackles, Christian Miears 4 tackles and a tackle for loss, Aiden Martin, and Grady Ott also had a tackle for loss in the game. Aiden Martin also added to the early onslaught of scoring with a 56 yard punt return TD. The Blazers aim continue success and to make a statement win against the Preble Shawnee Arrows visiting this Friday. ...

JH football football finished their season with a loss to Bradford, with a score of 52-0. We struggled to get the ball moving on offense. The team was led offensively by Karson Schweizer who rushed for 99 yards. Dalton Lee had 80 yards passing. Zander Vance had 60 receiving yards. Jett Stephens had 21 receiving yards. The defense was led by Tyler Belcher who had 3 solo tackles and 1 assist. Karson Schweizer, Skilyr Wolfe, Gunner Wendy, all had 2 solo tackles. Tyson Howard had 1 assisted tackle, a forced fumble and fumble recovery. They finished the season with a 4-4 record. ...

The Blazers faced the Panthers again this past Friday but this time we traveled South. National Trail had many contributors to this valiant team effort that limited Twin Valley South's yards and allowed the Blazers to stay on track for another consecutive week of 300+ yards on offense. Offensively Talon Bousman led the way with explosive runs rushing with 8 rushes for 93 yards and two TDs. He averaged 11.7 a carry and this puts him currently at 12th in the league rushing. Jody Wintrow was also a significant contributor again with 9 rushes for 68 yards a 7.6 yard average. Jody currently sits at 8th on the league rushing leaderboard. Other rushers adding yards were Jonah Brinkley with 38 yards on 5 carries, Grady Ott with 13 yards on 2 carries and Jason Lofton with 4 yards on one carry. The passing game was limited but not leaned on upon heavily. The Blazers completed 3 for 8 for 51 yards the highlight being a 24 yard TD pass from Aiden Martin to Jonah Brinkley. Grady Ott also had a 13 yard grab. Defensively many plays were made . The South QB was under constant pressure in their passing game from Brinkley, Marker, and Miears. The secondary was lockdown for most of the night also providing a 54 yard pick 6 TD return off an interception by Grady Ott in the 3rd quarter that was a major nail in the coffin for the Blazer victory. Bousman , Ott, Wills, and Miears led the way in tackling all being in on 8 tackles. And Jonah Brinkley had 2 Tackles for loss being in on 5 tackles. Chase Wills forced a fumble late that Killian O'Connor recovered. Overall many gang tackles were credited to bottling up the Panther offensive attack. The National Trail Football Blazers hope to create a winning streak this week as they travel to Bradford to battle the Roaders. ...

NEW PARIS — In a hard hitting game that saw both teams have players leave the field with injuries, National Trail rolled to a big 38-20 victory Friday over Tri-County North. A huge crowd attended the game thanks to free admission sponsored by T-Mobile as part of its “Friday Night 5G Lights” program. At halftime T-Mobile presented a check totaling $25,000 to Trail Athletics Director Troy Ferguson. National Trail High School has been named one of just 25 finalists nationwide — and the only school in Ohio — for T-Mobile’s Friday Night 5G Lights competition, a national program that celebrates schools using high school football to unite their communities. Trail now has a shot at the $1 million grand prize, which would bring major upgrades to the school’s football field and facilities. To win, the community must vote daily through Oct. 24 at https://t-mo.co/4pDIiCs. Each email address can cast one vote per day. The Blazers took an early 7-0 lead on a 13-yard run by Grady Ott and a Jacob Farno point after kick. North answered with a 72-yard TD run by Peyton Fannin. A two-point conversion run failed as Trail held the lead, 7-6. North took the lead 14-7 with Fannin breaking free for a 47-yard TD run with Aiden Ritchie scoring on a two-point conversion run. Trail countered with a three-yard TD run by Jody Wintrow, who led the Blazers with 117 yards on 19 carries. Farno’s kick tied it 14-14. Trail took a 21-14 lead on an eight-yard TD run by Talon Bousman (seven carries, 75 yards) and the PAT by Farno, who also added a field goal to give the Blazers a 24-14 lead at the half. North’s offense lost its punch in the second half when Fannin sustained a possible concussion and was removed from the game for precautionary reasons. Trail boosted its lead to 31-14 in the third stanza on a 14-yard TD run by Ott and the point after by Farno. North scored on a three-yard run by quarterback Luke Baughman but a two-point conversion attempt failed as Trail maintained a 31-20 advantage. Trail quarterback Aidan Martin (eight carries, 59 yards) scored on a two-yard run in the fourth quarter and Farno added the point after to make the final tally 38-20. With the win the Blazers improved to 2-4 in conference play and 2-5 overall. North fell to 2-4 and 2-5. “It was good to see our kids overcome some adversity. Typically with an opponent scoring some points we tend to hang our heads and not be able to get back in rhythm,” said Trail coach Eric Wolfe. “We knew our offensive line was doing a great job moving people and creating some holes, so we just had to keep doing what we were doing, keep our heads up and trust the process. It was good to see that happen and play as a team.” National Trail racked up 335 yards rushing as a result of the good blocking. “We knew Peyton Fannin for Tri-County North had a lot of speed at that it was going to be an issue, and he was. He lived up to that and was hard to contain,” Wolfe said. Before getting injured Fannin carried the ball four times for 120 yards, including TD runs of 72 and 47 yards. “After those first couple scores I said, ‘Hey – this might be an old Big 12 game with both teams trading punches all the way to the end.’ We won the physical battle and I told the players that if we win the battle up front, we can win this game and I think they really bought into that and I was really proud of us putting a whole game together. We hadn’t done that all season,” Wolfe stated. Coach Wolfe was happy about the T-Mobile check presentation and all the fans that showed up, but he told his players to block out all the distractions and finish the game out as if the score was still 0-0. “We just told the kids to block out the distractions and that we needed to keep our foot on the gas pedal because there was still a lot of football left to play,” Wolfe added. “Our big saying all year has been ‘brick-by-brick’ and I said it’s not built yet. We still have bricks to stack. The kids are buying into that and we had a good team effort and I was glad to see us come together.” North managed to generate 321 total yards in the loss. Luke Baughman complete eight of 14 pass attempts for 78 yards. In addition to Fannin’s 120 rushing yards, Mason Givens had 35 on 11 carries, Aiden Ritchie 70 on 11 carries and Franklin Filbrun 19 on three carries. Injuries were a key factor in the Panthers coming up short against the Blazers. North started the game with 22 players dressed and finished with about 17, but only one injury is going to be a semi-lengthy injury. The rest were kind of precautionary and temporary, according to North coach Nick Bandstra. “It was a tough matchup against another good football team that has had to deal with injuries just like us,” Bandstra said. “I think we are still headed in the right direction and we still have a lot to play for. “Obviously, with our big rivalry game with Twin Valley South at the end of the season and we still have to face Preble Shawnee and Mississinawa Valley – those are opportunities for us to not only get better but to improve on our past years performances of only three wins so we still have a shot of winning four or five games this year,” Bandstra noted. “We still have a chance of winning our big rivalry game and as I have said, I am looking forward to continuing to work with our kids,” Bandstra added. “I am looking forward to being a part of that rivalry game for the first time and I think we will do good. South has a really good coach and I think it will be a really good game. We are headed in the right direction. We just have to get healthy.” Reach Ron Nunnari at (937) 684-9124 or email Rnunnari@aimmediamidwest.com....

The National Trail boys golf team competed at the Division 3 State Tournament and finished in 11th place over the two day competition. The first day was tough for the Blazers. We finished in 12th place on the day with a 353 team score. Sophomore Josh Brubaker led the team shooting an 80 - including a 37 on his second nine. Senior Kellen Laird followed with an 83, while sophomore Wyatt Gebhart, sophomore Christian Rutan, and senior Sawyer Davies all shot 95. The second day brought heavy fog which delayed the start by an hour. The extra time spent warming up helped the team as they shot a much more normal score of 334 - good for 10th on the day and brought them into 11th place overall. The 2nd best score all the way to the 10th score were very close - proving this team belonged with the best teams in the state. Senior Kellen Laird finished an outstanding career for Trail by shooting a 77. His two day total of 160 was good for 23rd place. Sophomore Josh Brubaker also shot 77. Josh finished in 15th place overall with a two day total of 157. Senior Sawyer Davies went out on a high note by shooting 90 and finishing a two day total of 185 in 61st place. Sophomore Christian Rutan also came in with a 90, 185, 61st place finish. Sophomore Wyatt Gebhart played in the non-scoring spot today shooting 99. His 194 total was good for 69th place overall. A public school making back-to-back state tournaments is very rare. This team worked and prepared very hard to accomplish something few programs are able to achieve. The three sophomores are hungry for more, and with the rest of the returning players we will be working toward another state tournament run next year. ...

The National Trail Cross Country teams traveled to Dixie High School for the WOAC Championship. The Blazers were faced with tough competition throughout all races- but performed amazingly! 10 out of the 14 athletes ran new personal records (PRs). Tucker Denlinger and Sydney Whalen were announced as All-Conference 1st team. Wyatt Overley was announced as a junior high medalist. Tucker ran a new PR of 16:41.8 to place 4th. Bryce Couvutsakis ran a new PR of 19:15.2, Preston Barnes crossed at 20:05.4, and Merek Mumm ran a new PR of 20:17.9. Sydney finished in a new PR of 21:44.8 to placed 10th- this is 50 seconds faster than 10th place the previous year to earn 1st team honors. Ioma Alavez was just shy of 1st team but ran a new PR of 21:48.3 and placed 11th. Kira Rutan ran a new PR of 23:13.8. Ruby Sink ran a 25:02.3. Taygen Toothman had a new PR of 29:31.1. Wyatt ran a PR of 12:21.8 to place him 8th for a medal. Levi ran his final junior high race in a 19:07.6. Maddison Loranzan finished her final junior high 2 mile in 15:39.5. Dalila Alavez ran a new PR of 15:40.4- cutting 1 min and 15sec off her previous best. Myka Smith rounded out the day in 22:17.6- cutting around 50-60sec off her time. Junior high cross country is finished with their season and high school will go to Cedarville University for Districts next Saturday. ...