CINCINNATI — The final Friday night of the high school football regular season was full of meaningful games.

Lakota West locked-up its second consecutive outright GMC championship with a win over rival Lakota East.

Princeton secured the second spot in the GMC with a win over Colerain.

Anderson was held to just two offensive touchdowns, but used a kickoff return touchdown to separate itself from Turpin in the Battle of Forest Hills.

Badin ended McNicholas’ unbeaten run to claim the top spot in the GCL-Coed league.

Elder jumped on La Salle early, and held-off the Lancers late to win the final GCL-South matchup of the regular season.

Reading beat Indian Hill for the first time in nearly a decade with a late touchdown.

Cooper crushed Highlands in a Northern Kentucky district showdown.

See action from these games and others in the videos on this page!

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ANDERSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio — There were plenty of smiles to start homecoming weekend in front of the bleachers at Charles L. Brown Stadium Friday night.

Anderson rallied from an eight-point deficit with eight minutes remaining to defeat Winton Woods 28-21 in an Eastern Cincinnati Conference football showdown.

"It was remarkable how our kids came back," Anderson coach Evan Dreyer said.

It was Anderson's first win over Winton Woods since 2009, according to Dreyer.

"It was the most fun I've ever had playing a game," Anderson senior wide receiver Evan Upchurch said.

"The energy from our team and the energy from their team - it just added up and it was a great game."

Upchurch was part of a two-point conversion play when he threw the football to junior quarterback Griffin Scalf in the end zone to tie the game at 21 with 6:47 left.

"That is just Evan Upchurch and Griffin Scalf having some fun before and after practice," said Dreyer. "They wanted to run it and it was really, really cool as a coach to see those guys succeed."

Scalf connected with junior wide receiver Santos Alvarez for a 29-yard touchdown pass a play earlier to close the gap on the Warriors' lead.

After the two-point conversion, Anderson senior linebacker Casey O'Toole recovered the onside kick to give the Raptors another scoring opportunity.

The Raptors converted a fourth down from the Warriors' 12-yard line and three plays later Scalf eluded two defenders to find senior tight end Brody Foley in the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown pass connection with under two minutes left.

"He's a big target," Scalf said of Foley. "Just throw it up and he goes and gets it."

Foley, who is verbally committed to the University of Tennessee, said he saw Scalf look away and he found an open space in the end zone.

"It was a great play by him and a great play by our offense," said Foley, who also scored a first-half touchdown.

The Anderson defense was strong on the Warriors' final drive to seal the victory.

"I've been here six years now and the curse of beating Winton Woods," Dreyer said. "They're a great ball club. (Coach) Chad Murphy took over and it's one of those things to get over a little bit of a hump as we head toward the last three games. It's going to be really, really crucial to finish these three games strong as we end ECC play and head toward the playoffs in November."

Foley said he won't soon forget Friday night's game.

"It's amazing," Foley said. "It's a great feeling. I love coming out here every Friday with my boys and playing. It's special at home, it's homecoming, the fans are all out. It's an awesome feeling."

Anderson senior kicker Hayden Brooke had two field goals - including a 38-yarder and 29-yarder to help the Raptors (5-2, 4-1 ECC), who play at Milford Oct. 8.

Winton Woods senior running back Tyrek Spikes scored two rushing touchdowns and senior wide receiver Tai'je Frazier scored on a 48-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter for the Warriors (4-3, 3-2 ECC), who play at Turpin Oct. 8.

CINCINNATI — Between the heat concerns, game cancellations due to COVID-19 and Friday's inclement weather, it was quite a week for Greater Cincinnati high school football.

Six games were canceled due to COVID-19, multiple schools pushed back kickoff times in advance of heat concerns and then several games had to delay Friday night or postpone until Saturday morning due to inclement weather.

"We fought through more adversity last year than ever before and we've been trained to be prepared for any opportunity at any moment," said Anderson coach Evan Dreyer, whose Raptors played Clinton-Massie Saturday morning after being postponed Friday.

Adversity came in the form earlier this week of unexpected scheduling issues for multiple Greater Cincinnati teams that were impacted by their opponent's COVID-19 quarantines.

McNicholas found out its game with Batavia was canceled Thursday but was eventually able to connect with New Richmond whose game with Bethel-Tate was canceled.

McNicholas had some familiarity since its first scrimmage was against New Richmond. Still, the uncertainty didn't make it any easier with about 24 hours to prepare a game plan.

"I mean it was a whirlwind," McNicholas coach Mike Orlando said. "We found out (Thursday) afternoon and it was probably a two-hour window there where it was like kind of scrambling - what do you want to do, what can we do with our options that type of thing."

McNicholas defeated host New Richmond 34-14 Friday night but those two teams weren't the only schools looking for opponents the day before the game.

McNicholas High School

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Moeller football coach Mark Elder sent calls and text messages from his iPhone starting Thursday morning in order to find an opponent after Louisville Trinity had to cancel its trip to Cincinnati for a Saturday night game at Shea Stadium in Norwood.

Initially, he wasn't receiving much success.

"I kept getting no, no, no," Elder said. "It reminded me of my dating life in high school. Rejection after rejection."

At one point, Elder reached out to contacts in five states from Tennessee to Michigan for hours on Thursday in order to try to schedule a game.

"I was literally all over the place," Elder said. "I was on Google maps going, 'What else is there? Are there any other areas I need to look up?'"

Elder told the team around 2:45 p.m. Thursday about the cancellation and instructed the players to bring home and road uniforms Friday to prepare for any game location and most importantly a mindset to be ready to compete.

"'If we get a game at noon (Friday), we're playing," Elder told the team. "'That's what we're doing. I don't know if it will be at home. I don't know if it will be away. I have no idea. Nor do I care nor should you.'"

Two hours later, Elder sent a text message to the team saying an agreement to play at Chaminade Julienne at 7 p.m. Friday had been reached.

Moeller had considered a Northeast Indiana opponent that would've been a four-hour and 30 minute bus ride. But, Moeller athletic director Justin Bayer wanted more time to find the right fit.

"I was actually more like, 'Justin, I've been doing this for five hours and the game is tomorrow,'" Elder said. "'Like we need to make a call.' And so we started to get in talks with CJ and that other school in Indiana called back and said, 'We're out, we found somebody else.' My heart sunk because CJ hadn't made the call yet."

WCPO

Eventually Moeller and Chaminade Julienne agreed on Friday night. Chaminade Julienne's game with Dayton Belmont was canceled so it created an opening for the Eagles, who hadn't played Moeller since 1977.

On Thursday night, Elder sent over Hudl film of Moeller's two scrimmage and last week's win over Lakota East and organized a quick game plan after breaking down CJ's film.

"We had a team meeting at 6:30 a.m. (Friday)," Elder said. "We met for an hour to cover special teams, the day and then side of the ball stuff and that was it. Offense did a walk through. No practice, no nothing. We didn't practice (Thursday). We get to roll the ball out and play some football. That's the most important thing to these kids."

Yet, that wasn't the end of the challenging week.

Moeller's game at Chaminade Julienne was delayed nearly two hours due to weather Friday night in yet another twist this week.

The Crusaders eventually won 42-28 to improve to 2-0 this season. Elder was grateful for an opportunity for his team to close out August.

"We couldn't be more appreciative of (Chaminade Julienne) coach (Marcus) Colvin and CJ for giving us this opportunity," Elder said.

"I will be honest. I don't know if we're playing a game if they say no. Very, very appreciative of them playing us. It was huge for us."

CINCINNATI — The high school football scene was impacted by severe weather around the Greater Cincinnati area on Friday night.

Multiple games were in weather delays prior to scheduled kickoff times. Some games were scheduled to start later than the common 7 p.m. kickoff due to heat concerns. The lightning just added to the weather situation.

The Clinton-Massie (0-0) at Anderson (0-1) game was postponed until 10 a.m. Saturday.
The game had been a Spectrum News 1 game of the week in Southwest Ohio.

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"We fought through more adversity last year than ever before and we've been trained to be prepared for any opportunity at any moment," Anderson coach Evan Dreyer told WCPO.

"I think things like this make your program and teams better. We want to be a playoff team, so we must fight through adversity. We must adapt and overcome to be a great football team."

The Princeton (1-0) at Loveland (0-1) game is postponed until 10 a.m. Saturday. There was a power outage plus lightning on Friday, according to Loveland coach Andy Cruse.

The Lakota East (0-1) at Milford (1-0) game is postponed until 9 a.m., according to the Milford athletic department.

The Holy Cross (1-0) at Walton-Verona (0-1) game is postponed until 7 p.m. Saturday.

The Franklin (0-1) at Beavercreek (0-1) game is postponed until 10 a.m. Saturday.

WCPO will continue to update this story.

CINCINNATI —

Thursday is a big day for students as a new school year starts for some in several local school districts.

It's exciting, but uncertain as COVID-19 protocols continue to be adjusted.

Some schools are still deciding mask and COVID-19 protocols and on Wednesday night, the Forest Hills School District made a decision that came with cheers and jeers from parents.

The meeting was full and at one point, a board member cast the incorrect vote twice.

Parents appeared to have had enough before it ever really started.

"I just felt like (Gov. Mike) DeWine lifted that and said we could take them off and I don't want to put it back on and I don't want my children to put it back on either," parent Shawna Myers said.

Parents, students, and community members all stood outside Nagel Middle School greeting school leaders with signs against masks.

Their signs were on display during a meeting of the Forest Hills School Board, where masks were the task at hand.

"I believe that students should wear masks for their protection and for the protection of others," board member Dee Dee Choice said.

"I don't understand why we would do things differently when our goal shouldn't be to experiment. Our goal should be to make sure every child has the ability to learn in person," board member Dr. Leslie Rasmussen said.

"They struggle to learn when they can't fundamentally interact with each other. So to mask them out of fear of what might happen is outrageous," board Member Elizabeth Maier said.

At the end of the night, the board decided for elementary school students, masks will be required in instructional settings, but not in hallways, restrooms or at recess.

For secondary students, masks are optional.

The big concerns appeared to surrounded quarantines and contact tracing.

Members said last year, about 400 children were out with COVID-19 cases leading to about 4,000 in quarantine who did not get sick.

Parents in masks also took part in the meeting, supporting the mask effort.

Unfortunately, we were unable to catch up with them after the meeting.

They appeared to support any mask policy, with one woman saying she did not want her children near unmasked kids.

But those who were protesting said no mask policy is the right policy.

"I don't believe it'll have any effect at controlling the spread. I think the cases will continue to rise in the cold and flu season. We'll have another failed mitigation strategy," parent Scott Nelson said.

As part of the motion the board passed, the school district will revisit mask protocols for schools on Sept. 13 basing any changes on data and the situation at the time.

The Forest Hills School District includes Anderson and Turpin high schools and Ayer, Maddux, Mercer, Sherwood, Summit and Wilson elementary schools.

It serves more than 7,300 students in Anderson Township and the Village of Newtown.