Celtics seniors led way to playoffs

The program's second postseason berth was one of the many highlights for the Dublin Jerome High School football team.

The Celtics earned their second playoff spot, but fell to host Logan 23-7 in a Division II, Region 7 quarterfinal last Friday. The third-seeded Chieftains, who improved to 11-0, took a 13-0 lead and then held off several charges by Jerome. Logan will play second-seeded Louisville on Friday.

The sixth-seeded Celtics finished 6-5.

Trailing 13-7 in the first half, the Celtics had a chance to pull ahead but couldn't convert. Down 16-7 in the second half, Jerome again had chances to pull closer, but came up empty.

Coach Mark Hundley implemented a new offense that resulted in 22.7 points a game. Jerome scored a season-high 42 in a seven-point win over Division I playoff qualifier Marysville on Oct. 10.

Jerome allowed 24.7 points a game.

Another highlight was sharing the OCC-Cardinal Division title with Westerville South and Olentangy Liberty at 5-2. After beginning its OCC-Cardinal slate with wins over Westerville North 14-13 on Sept. 12 and Liberty 14-10 on Sept. 19, Jerome fell to Westerville South 54-38 on Sept. 26.

Jerome pulled out the win over North when senior quarterback Kevin Jackson connected with Joe Horine for a 7-yard touchdown with 20 seconds remaining.

The Celtics' other league loss was to Dublin Scioto 42-14 on Oct. 17. Jerome, however, earned a share of the title when Liberty upended South 21-17 in the regular-season finale on Oct. 24.

The Celtics' other wins were over Reynoldsburg 28-0 on Aug. 22, Olentangy 28-19 on Oct. 3 and Westerville Central 30-7 on Oct. 24.

Jerome will lose 19 seniors.

"The seniors are the heart of your team," Hundley said. "Your seniors dictate how good your team is going to be and this is the most seniors we've had. They're great leaders. They played hard, they take the coaching, so you have to give those guys the honor when their season is over."

Jackson completed 144 of 290 passes for 1,824 yards and 11 touchdowns and rushed for 250 yards and four scores on 92 carries. He shared Player of the Year in the league with Liberty's Cameron Whitner and South's Ricky Harris.

Jackson replaced sophomore quarterback Ryan Gannon during the second game when Gannon was lost for the season with a collarbone injury. Gannon is expected to return to the position next fall.

Other top seniors are Horine, Cody Burris, Connor Rosenbaum and Robert Carmona. Burris caught 27 passes for 541 yards and five touchdowns and rushed for 132 yards on 25 carries despite missing part of the season with a broken collarbone. Rosenbaum also fought off injuries to rush for 239 yards and two touchdowns on 52 carries.

"We're pretty happy with the season," Rosenbaum said. "We lost to Scioto and that was a big one, and Westerville South. Other than that, it was a great season."

Hundley expects junior running back Steve Mehrer to lead the ground attack again next season. He rushed for 780 yards and 11 touchdowns on 137 attempts.

Horine caught 52 passes for 434 yards and a touchdown, and Carmona caught 33 passes for 414 yards and two touchdowns.

Burris, Horine, Mehrer, Rosenbaum and Eric Ruhl were first-team all-OCC-Cardinal, Carmona, Josh Vradenburg, Allan Wagner and Spencer Breseman were named to the second team and Mike Adolph received honorable mention.

Alex Dyer was the team's scholar athlete.

"There are no regrets," Hundley said. "There are obviously some things I wish we would have done better coaching-wise, some things I wish we would have been a little more disciplined with early in the season that we started doing later in the season, which got us into this position. I'm proud of these players and their coaches, and the work they've done."

At a glance

•Record: 6-5 overall, 5-2 (tied for first) in OCC-Cardinal

•Seniors lost: Evan Adams, Mike Adolph, Rick Armstrong, Vinnie Bhatti, Spencer Breseman, Cody Burris, Robert Carmona, Alex Dyer, Jordan Friedrich, Josh Green, Joe Horine, Kevin Jackson, Ben James, Cian Nelson-Mayer, Jason Pollo, Jeff Robison, Connor Rosenbaum, Zac Saleski and Allan Wagner

•Key returnees: Ryan Gannon, Alex Flexer, Steve Mehrer, Josh Vradenburg and Cameron Wilson