Columbia at Wellington tonight

I will be covering high school football tonight in Wellington, Ohio as the Dukes host the Columbia Raiders. You can tune in to 1320 AM or listen online (replay will be available online as well). I'll be working with play-by-play announcer Bob Karlovec and sideline reporter Dave Andrews.

Both teams begin Patriot Athletic Conference play this evening and neither team is sure how good they are.

Columbia is 2-1 for the 4th straight season. From 2009 to 2011, the non-conference portion of their schedule is identical:

• loss in week 1 to Cleveland Central Catholic (20-14 this year), 
• win in week 2 vs. South Central (40-0)
• win in week 3 vs. Chippewa (28-7).

Wellington is 0-3 in their non-conference schedule dropping games against Norwayne (47-7), Avon (33-0) and Edison (35-20). Norwayne won the Division IV state championship last season while Avon finished as runners-up in Division II.

Columbia

The Raiders have a new quarterback with the same last name. Jay Banyasz takes over after his older brother, John, was a 4-year starter and established career records in every school passing category. Banyasz, a junior, is 31-64 passing for 353 yards, 5 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. He is also the free safety on defense having started there every game last season. Columbia also graduated their leading rusher and receiver from 2011. Filling the void in the offensive backfield is Jacob Kleinhenz (39-205 rushing, 2 TDs) and Tristen Rindfleisch (24-89 rushing).

The Raiders strength thus far is their defense having not allowed a touchdown the last two weeks. Kleinhenz and Foster Tucker are the inside linebackers after finishing last season as the leading tacklers. Banyasz and Sean Nagle return as the starting safeties.

Wellington

The Dukes graduated RB Clay Wright, a Division IV second-team All-Ohio selection, averaged 7.6 yards per carry, rushed for 25 touchdowns and gained 1,483 yards, from a year ago and have replaced him with Alex Rush, Chase Bealer and Quinton Dendinger in the Wing-T offense. Also returning is senior quarterback Dylan Weidrick.

The two teams met for the first time in 2011. Wellington was a big winner 56-35 in a wild game that saw Wright run for 266 yards on just 21 carries and five touchdowns. Columbia's John Banyasz to Shane Lambert passing combo hooked up for 4 touchdowns in the 1st quarter. Banyasz finished with over 400 yards passing. The Dukes scored touchdowns on six straight possessions after falling behind 28-14 after the 1st quarter.

The Dukes made the high school play-offs a year ago finishing with a 7-4 record. Columbia had a 7-3 record last year and last made the post-season in 2010 with a 9-2 mark.