Welcome to the 15th edition of Ohio High magazine!

We wrapped up this issue in early October, just as the high school football season was at the midway point. With this issue of Ohio High, we take a division-by-division look at the key state championship contenders in football.

Plus, we also have our preseason boys and girls basketball preview in this edition as well.

We look at each region within each of the state’s six divisions. We examine which teams had positioned themselves with early season victories and which late-season games could decide playoff positioning. The playoffs begin over the weekend of Nov. 3-4. The six OHSAA state championship games will be contested over the weekend of Dec. 2-3 in Canton and Massillon.

Recruiting editor Duane Long also provides a report on the state’s top senior football prospects. He looks at which players have improved their stock in the first half of the regular season.

He also has a report on the state’s top junior prospects.

Matt Natali, the webmaster of our popular JJHuddle.com web site, has a look at contenders for this year’s Mr. Football and ONN/Ohio High player of the year awards.

Gary Housteau has a look at the program at Youngstown Cardinal Mooney, which is pushing for a return to the Division IV state title game.

We have complete coverage of the second annual Kirk Herbstreit Ohio vs. USA Challenge, which featured nine games over two days in September. Ohio teams won four of the series’ nine games.

Our boys basketball preview with a look at the top teams in each division plus our cover story on Upper Sandusky standout Jon Diebler. Bill Greene has a look at Canton McKinley coach Dave Hoover, whose Bulldogs have won back-to-back Division I state titles.

Our girls preview begins on page 46 with a preview on top senior standout Lauren Prochaska of defending Division III state champion Plain City Jonathan Alder.

Natali also examines the program at Warsaw River View, the defending Division II girls champions.

Kirk Larrabee previews the season ahead in Ohio high school wrestling.

Finally, correspondent Paul Boggs files a story on Vincent Warren head boys basketball coach Blaine Maddox.

One exciting aspect about Ohio High is the fact we are able to “bundle” it with subscriptions to our popular JJHuddle.com web site.

The best deal on the board is purchasing a one-year premium subscription to the JJHuddle.com web site for $59.95. That subscription comes with a free one-year subscription to Ohio High.

However, for a limited time, we are allowing new subscribers to purchase one-year (six-issue) subscriptions for just the magazine for the old five-issue price of $29.95.

All told, that one-year subscription for the package of JJHuddle.com and Ohio High magazine represents a savings over the course of a year of over $50 from the monthly JJHuddle.com subscription charge ($6.95 per month) and a separate charge for Ohio High.

Nobody has ever attempted to produce a magazine that contains coverage of Ohio high school athletics and recruiting. We’re pretty proud of how this magazine has grown over the past couple of years and we look forward to the year ahead.

Going forward, here are general topics that will be covered in each edition of Ohio High magazine:

* January (Due out Dec. 15) – Fall sports recap including the football playoffs, updating the full top 100 senior football prospects, update on basketball recruit rankings.

* March (Due out Feb. 15) – Basketball and wrestling tournament previews.

* May (Due out April 15) – Football signing day recap, basketball and wrestling tournament recaps, new top 100 for the seniors-to-be unveiled.

* July (Due out June 15) – Football preview issue, spring sports recap.

* September (Due out Aug. 15) – Top 100 senior prospect bios updated.

Check out JJHuddle.com every day for season previews and daily coverage of Ohio high school athletics.

Thanks again for your patronage of Ohio High magazine!

Steve Helwagen
Managing Editor
Ohio High