In addition to our live coverage of Rootstown-Southeast and Crestwood-Mogadore, here’s a look at what happened across Portage County in Week 1:
Friday, Aug. 21
Aurora 36, Stow-Munroe Falls 34
Luke McGovern and Aidan Samelko each found the end zone twice as the Greenmen won a wild opener. McGovern scored twice on special teams, on a 90-yard kickoff return and a 65-yard punt return. Samelko scored on a three-yard touchdown run and a 61-yard interception return.
Samelko led Aurora (1-0) in carries (18) and rushing yards (112) and had a team-high 11 tackles. Carter Romancek added three tackles for loss for the Greenmen while Jacob Miller and Charlie Treccia had two apiece. The Greenmen won despite the Bulldogs’ sizable advantage in offensive yardage (321-165).
Down 14-7 in the second quarter, Samelko scored twice to give Aurora a 22-14 lead at the half. McGovern’s kickoff return touchdown pushed the advantage to two scores before Stow rallied.
Bulldogs quarterback Gideon Larlham finished with three touchdowns (two passing, one rushing).
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Roosevelt 22, Twinsburg 19
Kingston Bryant had three touchdown passes in the second half as the Rough Riders rallied to an impressive victory over the Tigers, who led 7-0 at the half and 19-7 entering the fourth quarter.
Bryant tossed his first touchdown pass to Tyler Ellington in the third quarter. He then found Zac Coleman and Sevyn Jones for fourth-quarter touchdowns. After finding Jones to take a 20-19 lead, Bryant tacked on the two-point conversion, accounting for the final score.
Jones also had an interception and a forced fumble, while Coleman added a pick, Brock Catalucci forced a fumble and Cyler Foreman recovered a fumble for Roosevelt (1-0).
Bryant finished 12 of 20 for 234 yards and three touchdowns against a single interception. Coleman had a team-high 102 receiving yards on five catches while Makhi Jones reached the century mark on the ground (at exactly 100 yards) on 16 carries.
Waterloo 8, Springfield 3
The Vikings bounced back from a winless 2025 by avenging last year’s close loss to the Spartans. Down three midway through the fourth quarter, Waterloo rallied as Sayid El-Qawlaq found Keyshawne King for a 40-yard touchdown. The game-winning play started with El-Qawlaq rolling right. The scrambling quarterback found King just shy of the first-down marker with King somehow eluding the defense and slipping out along the right sideline to the end zone.
Ravenna 28, Field 7
Mark Miller had two of his three rushing touchdowns in the third quarter as the Ravens (1-0) ran away with the game. Miller finished with 133 yards on just 10 carries and that was plenty as Ravenna shut Field out over the final three quarters. Ethan McKamey added a rushing touchdown for the Ravens.
Plymouth 29, Windham 20
The Bombers lost their eight-man football debut.
No other details were reported.
Copley 28, Streetsboro 20
Copley avenged last year’s loss to Streetsboro, prevailing in a game that was closely contested the entire way through. Indeed, it was a one-score game at every quarter break.
No other details were reported.
Thursday, Aug. 20
Garfield 37, Warren JFK 28
Collin McGranahan had two of his three touchdowns in the third quarter as the G-Men pulled away from the Eagles. Tied at 14, Hannah Timmons gave Garfield the lead with a 21-yard field goal before halftime. McGranahan then extended that lead with a one-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. The senior added a 41-yard touchdown toss to Nate Baczkowski to push the lead to 30-14 entering the fourth. The G-Men (1-0) averaged 10 yards per carry (37 carries for 372 yards), including Ryder Cain’s 15 carries for 181 yards and a touchdown. Devin Bates (11 carries, 96 yards, one touchdown) and McGranahan (nine carries, 82 yards, two touchdowns) also approached the century mark.
Contact Jonah L. Rosenblum at jrosenblum@recordpub.com and follow him on Twitter at @JLRSports.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Week 1 high school football roundup: Roosevelt, Waterloo rally
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Reporting by Jonah Rosenblum, Ravenna Record-Courier / Record-Courier
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By Jonah Rosenblum, Ravenna Record-Courier | USA TODAY Network
