The cover background features then-Warren G. Harding senior Richard Davis in the 2003 playoff matchup against Solon. He finished the contest with 10 carries for 194 yards and three touchdowns in the Raiders' 49-7 triumph. Today, Davis is the head football coach at Toledo Scott High School, where he also serves as the head of their track & field program.
At the midway point of last season, Warren G. Harding and Solon were both 1-4. For the Comets, that “1” represented their lone win of 2023, a 14-13 triumph over Mayfield in week 5, while the Raiders would go on to finish the regular season at 4-6 before splitting two postseason games to finish a 5-7. Now in 2024, both programs have begun to emerge from the shadows as Harding enters week 6 with a record of 3-2 while Solon has already doubled last season’s win total as they check in at 2-3. That said, both teams have recent “rude awakenings” that have shown them where currently they stand among the elite.
Warren G. Harding senior linebacker Chaz Coleman (#1) explodes off the edge to register a sack and forced fumble against Youngstown Ursuline on 09/20/2024.
For Harding, they couldn’t have asked for any more momentum as they headed into this past Friday’s matchup with archrival Youngstown Ursuline. Unfortunately for the Raiders, every time they got something going, the Fighting Irish stole the momentum right back with big plays. Ultimately, those key moments snowballed into a 35-0 victory for a very strong Ursuline squad that’s looking to establish themselves as one of the more elite teams in all of Ohio for any division.
Warren G. Harding junior linebacker Tyler Smith records a tackle for a loss against Youngstown Ursuline on 09/20/2024.
While the loss for Harding isn’t exactly what they hoped for, it didn’t take long for social media to display the big ambitions that head coach Matt Richardson and his staff have for their athletes. Yesterday morning, Richardson posted a photo of senior Chaz Coleman, whose college recruitment is on fire right now, with a sideline pass at Ohio Stadium prior to the Buckeyes’ matchup with Marshall.
Warren G. Harding senior Chaz Coleman (far left) on the football field at Ohio Stadium priot to the Buckeyes' matchup against Marshall on 09/21/2024. He's pictured with (from L to R) 2002 WGH alum and former Buckeye Maurice Clarett, current WGH defensive backs coach Rico Murray, and teammate Stephen Sims.
Last week alone, Coleman received football scholarship offers from (in order) Illinois, Purdue, Penn State, and Virginia, which added to the ones that he already had from Ole Miss, Kentucky, Hampton, Akron, and Youngstown State University. While Ole Miss envisions the 6-foot-5, 230-pound athlete lining up at tight end, most schools view him as an outside linebacker, a position that he didn’t even play prior to this season, but has excelled in this year. To date, he leads the Raiders with 4.0 tackles for a loss, 3.0 sacks, 3 interceptions, and is tied with classmate Airiz Coleman Bey for the team lead with one defensive touchdown.
Warren G. Harding senior cornerback and Brown University commit Airiz Coleman Bey with a 31-yard interception return for a touchdown against Canton McKinley on 08/22/2024.
Coleman’s leadership extends to the offensive side of the ball as well as he’s currently 24-of-41 for 237 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions while he’s Harding’s second leading rusher with 255 yards and two touchdowns on 54 carries. The Raiders’ top dog in the rushing category is sophomore Mi’King Adair, who checks in with 333 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 48 carries while Brandon Coleman Jr. has compiled 124 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 36 carries.
Warren G. Harding senior Deshawn Wynn swarms into the Youngstown Ursuline offensive backfield to record a tackle for a loss on 09/20/2024.
Senior Marcus Crum Jr. has been the top target for the Raiders as he’s hauled in 14 receptions for 149 yards and two touchdowns while classmate Devon Morgan III has six receptions for 71 yards and one touchdown. Sims’ 9 receptions is second on the team as they have gone for 56 yards. It should be noted that despite the loss to Ursuline, sophomore quarterback James Jones, while the overall numbers may not suggest it, looked as comfortable as he’s looked in his young career as for the season, he’s 11-of-23 for 86 yards and two interceptions. He’ll look to build on his confidence as Harding eyes a familiar, but not-so-familiar foe.
On January 13, 2024, Warren G. Harding introduced Matt Richardson as their new head football coach. His 24 years worth of enperience includes stints at The Rayen School (Youngstown; 1999), Harding (2000-2006), Solon (2007-2018), and Archbisho Hoban (2020-2023).
You may be asking yourself… How does an opponent be both “familiar,” and “not-so-familiar?” The fact is that in 2003, the Raiders began having controlled scrimmages with Solon. The same year, the two squared off in their only official game ever in the playoffs, which resulted in a 49-7 win for a Harding squad that came into that contest ranked #2 in the entire country. Two two programs continued to scrimmage each other for the next 20 years before this season welcomed the brief opportunity for them to finally schedule a regular season game with each other. In fact, nobody knows more about the connection between the two than Richardson does. Between his original stint at Harding (2000-2006) and his years as Solon’s Running Backs Coach (2007-2009) and Offensive Coordinator (2010-2018), nobody has been on the sidelines for more Harding-Solon meetings than he has.
Solon sophomore defensive end Brady Bush (#33) runs down the Olmsted Falls quarterback on 08/23/2024. The promise that he's displayed for the Comets has alreader resulted in an offer from Kent State.
Personally, with the usual state of both programs and their relatively close distance between each other, a potential Harding-Solon series always made sense to me. Unfortunately in that regard (for now), this will be the only regular season matchup will take place as Solon’s obligations to the Suburban League will fill up the majority of their future schedules. They are in the league’s “National Conference” with Brecksville-Broadview Heights,, Hudson, Nordonia, North Royalton, Stow, Twinsburg, and Wadsworth while the “American Conference” is comprised of Aurora, Barberton, Copley, Cuyahoga Falls, Highland, (Kent) Roosevelt, Revere, and Tallmadge.
Solon sophomore quarterback Jack Sanders runs around the edge for a touchdown during their season opener against Olmsted Falls on 08/23/2024.
Since last year, Solon has been reestablishing their football program with a solid crop of young talent that features quite a few athletes that played as freshmen in 2023. Among those talented young men are Brady Bush, a 6-foot-2, 230-pound tight end/defensive end who already holds an offer from Kent State, and Khyier Robinson, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound “athlete” who has already been offered by Akron, Kent State, Toledo, and Miami (OH) University. Fellow sophomore Jack Sanders mans the quarterback position for the Comets, so with all of their youth, you have to imagine that their best days are ahead of them. Senior linebacker Ben Friedman was their leading tackler in 2023 while classmates Gavin Baisden (6-foot-6, 300 pounds) and Jaylen Morgan (6-foot-3, 310 pounds) serve as the big hogs in the trenches for the Comets.
Khyier Robinson is another promising sophomore for Solon who has already made a great impression on college football coaches. To date, he holds offers from Akron, Kent State, Toledo, and Miami (OH) University.