The Sports Review: Fall sports are in full swing
What a couple weeks of Highland County athletics with football, golf, soccer, tennis and volleyball all starting their regular seasons, while cross-country is soon to start later this upcoming week.
It has been nice getting back to watching games and seeing the student-athletes compete to the best of their abilities, and along the way there have been some major performances already this season.
• Whiteoak’s Wessner is a scoring machine early in the season
In games I wasn’t in attendance at Whiteoak High School, junior Christopher Wessner scored six goals (a DOUBLE hat trick) against Wellston this past Thursday (a game where WHS earned their first win on their new field). Also, this past Monday against Portsmouth-Clay, Wessner recorded a hat trick. In two matches this season, Wessner has nine goals.
• Davis with a career milestone; HHS volleyball with a strong start
The Spike and Dig volleyball tournament was this past Saturday (Aug. 22) at Hillsboro High School with the Hillsboro Lady Indians repeating as champions of the four team event as they defeated Whiteoak in the first round and Lynchburg-Clay in the championship game, winning both matches in two straight sets. In third place was McClain by defeating Whiteoak in a three-set match as they played in the consolation match.
Speaking of Hillsboro, congratulations are in order to senior Tylee Davis who on Wednesday (Aug. 19) recorded her 1,000th career dig. That’s quite an accomplishment to achieve. That night the Lady Indians began their season with tri-match wins over both Eastern and Blanchester at HHS.
• A new program being built in Mowrystown
Not only did Whiteoak build a new sports complex with a very nice turf soccer field, but they are building another soccer program from the ground up. That said, congratulations to the Whiteoak Lady Wildcats’ JV girls soccer team as they recently earned their first win in their first season — a 7-3 victory over Piketon — as they build a program to one day play at the varsity level. According to a post on the Whiteoak Sports Facebook page, this was the first girls soccer game played by a Whiteoak team in close to 40 years.
• Lynchburg-Clay boys golf picking up from where they left off last season
The Lynchburg-Clay boys golf team is keeping their momentum built by being state qualifiers in 2025 with a very strong start to the 2026 season, winning against all challengers as it is most likely the Southern Hills Athletic Conference championship will once again have to go through the Mustangs.
This past week, LCHS had a match win over North Adams and did so with a team score of 144 which was only 5-over-par at the Hilltop Golf Course in their 9-hole event. LC has dominated the competition thus far, and it is going to be fun to see just how successful this group can be on the links as the season continues.
• Lady Indians girls tennis sits in first place in FAC
One season after winning the girls tennis championship in the Frontier Athletic Conference, the Hillsboro Lady Indians are still sitting in first place as they are currently undefeated in conference matches to start the season. HHS has defeated Chillicothe (4-1), Jackson (4-1), Washington (5-0), and Miami Trace (4-1). Last season, Hillsboro was 8-0 during the regular-season against FAC opponents.
• Football is back!
Hats off to the McClain Tigers for their 37-8 win at Bostic Field in Frankfort against the Adena Warriors to start the 2026 season. It was a great start for the Tigers, including junior quarterback Hudson Lovett, who was 18-of-26 for 383 yards passing and three touchdowns. Lovett also rushed for 82 yards with two rushing touchdowns.
The Hillsboro Indians had two running backs each finish with 100-plus rushing yards on the night as senior Tre Captain finished with 14 carries for 126 yards and a touchdown. Malone had 22 carries for 142 yards and a touchdown in the Indians’ 49-13 loss against the Western Brown Broncos (according to the Indians’ stat page on MaxPreps).
Check back for a full football report on Monday morning for Week 1 thoughts and stats.
• More soccer success
Whiteoak sophomore Lucas Pollard also had a hat trick against Wellston this past Thursday. Another big scoring performance was McClain senior Paisley Pryor, who scored four goals in a 6-1 win for the Lady Tigers against Logan Elm. Three of her goals (a hat trick) came in the first half.
The Fairfield boys played a strong game this past Tuesday against Highland County counterpart, the Hillsboro Indians winning by a 5-0 score. Then in the girls game, the Hillsboro Lady Indians played a tough game against the Fairfield Lady Lions, winning 2-1.
Speaking of the Lions boys soccer team, they've outscored their opponents 9-0 in the first three games, all with their defense not allowing a goal. That's outstanding. Also for Fairfield, two girls soccer players — Vivian Henninger and Emerson Zink — each had a hat trick in Fairfield's 13-0 win over Ripley on Monday, Aug. 17.
Another had trick recorded was Hillsboro's Arianna Evans who had three goals against Peebles on Friday, Aug. 14. So far this season the senior for HHS has four goals and three assists.
It has been a strong start to the soccer season for many of the Highland County teams, and some congratulations are in order as the season continues.
• Final Thoughts
It has been a fun start to the high school fall sports season. Though sometimes it is a little tough to get used to being back at games nearly every evening, it is still exciting to be able to watch the games and competition.
The schedule the upcoming week has roughly 48 games on the schedule for the five Highland County schools with varsity sports, so there will be plenty to pick from for fans to watch. Here is to another solid week of high school athletics.
Stephen Forsha is the sports editor of The Highland County Press. He can be reached at sforsha@gmail.com.