Cincinnati (OH) St. Xavier Bombers

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High school sports

St. X will win state

No, that's not my prediction.
Colerain, Elder, Moeller fans -- please read on.

St. Xavier will win the 2007 Ohio Division I football title, according to ... Ohio High magazine.

A glance at the magazine's state football picks for 2007:

Division I finals: St. Xavier over Massillon Washington
Division II: Trotwood-Madison over Tallmadge
Division III: Dayton Chaminade-Julienne over Mentor Lake Catholic
Division IV: Youngstown Cardinal Mooney over Kettering Alter
Division V: Lima Central Catholic over Maria Stein Marion Local
Division VI: Norwalk St. Paul over Lehman Catholic

For what it's worth.

St. X returns 15 starters from its 2006 team, and that's not counting standout kicker/punter Danny Milligan. Readers of this blog know most of the names -- RB Darius Ashley, FS Fred Craig, LB Nick Schneider, WR Stephon Ball, et al.

"We're good on paper," St. X coach Steve Specht said the other day, "but games aren't played on paper."

Beyond St. X, we're curious to see how the top 5 shakes our in our Enquirer preseason poll. (Our preview runs Aug. 20).

The usual suspects will be up there -- Colerain, Elder, Moeller. La Salle is always in the mix. Behind Colerain in the GMC, we're not quite sure. Remember Sycamore as last year's surprise team?

Do you agree that St. X is the clear No. 1, at least for now? If not, who should be? And who could surprise?

RP Discussion Links: Fred Craig, Darius Ashley

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High school sports

St. X-DeMatha ESPN status

You may have seen this week's announcement that ESPNU, ESPN and ESPN2 will televise at least 14 live high school football games as part of the 2007 ESPNU Old Spice High School Showcase.

You may also have seen the St. Xavier-DeMatha game, which is part of the Kirk Herbstreit Ohio vs. USA Challenge on Sept. 2 (12:05 p.m.), was not listed. That's because the Herbstreit game is still being negotiated with ESPN and also is not part of the Old Spice series.

Dan Jones of Chicago-based Intersport, a sports marketing firm that is handling much of the Herbstreit organization this year, said St. X-DeMatha still looks good for ESPN.

"We're still in talks with ESPN," Jones told me today. "This (St. X-DeMatha) is not part of that series of Old Spice events. We do not have a deal finalized with (ESPN), but we're very close and we're continuing to work on it."

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The Enquirer - St. X to be rated No. 1 in nation

BY TOM GROESCHEN | TGROESCHEN@ENQUIRER.COM

St. Xavier will be rated No. 1 nationally in the preseason PrepNation.com football poll, the poll's ratings editor said today.

Jamie DeMoney compiles the poll, officially called the National Prep Poll. The NPP has been compiled weekly since 1987, making it the nation’s second oldest weekly high school sports ratings. The USA Today ratings began in 1982.

“I can’t give you the full list yet, but I can tell you that St. X will be preseason No. 1 in my poll,’’ DeMoney said in an e-mail to The Enquirer today. “Colerain will probably start the year ranked between No. 15-20 nationally.’’

Continued...

[ChisAto]

My cousin goes there. He's Stephon Ball and he's being recruited with his best friend Darius Ashley.