Coming later this week: A look at Delaware County football teams’ playoff prospects.
DELAWARE COUNTY — When Kathe Theisen was asked about her thoughts on the postseason, she wasted no time in her response.
The coach has complete confidence in her Big Walnut girls soccer team, which opened postseason play with an 8-0 win over 14th-seeded Whetstone on Oct. 22.
“We’re going to win,” said Theisen, whose team is 10-3-4 and seeded second in the Division II district tournament. “We had a little lull in the middle, but they came right out of it.”
The Golden Eagles host fourth-seeded Watkins Memorial in a district final Oct. 29. The winner faces Watterson or Logan in a regional semifinal Nov. 3.
Big Walnut is one of five Delaware County teams still alive in the district tournament. Top-seeded Olentangy Berlin (15-1-1), third-seeded Olentangy Liberty (13-2-1) and seventh-seeded Delaware Hayes are all playing for district titles in Division I Oct. 29.
Sixth-seeded Buckeye Valley (6-7-3) will play at second-seeded Bexley in a Division III district semifinal. The winner plays third-seeded Granville or fifth-seeded London in a final Oct. 31 at Big Walnut.
The Bears host ninth-seeded Gahanna, the Patriots are home against eighth-seeded Hilliard Bradley and the Pacers travel to Grove City.
Liberty defeated the Jaguars 1-0 in OCC-Central Division play Sept. 22.
The Berlin-Gahanna winner plays Upper Arlington or Hilliard Darby at Big Walnut, and the Delaware-Grove City winner faces Dublin Jerome or Worthington Kilbourne in the regional semifinal round at DeSales on Nov. 3.
Big Walnut has outscored opponents 67-16 this season, led by senior forward Anna McGough with 13 goals and five assists. Senior midfielder Kylie Cochran also has four goals and four assists.
Senior goalie Grace Huffman (92 saves) and senior defender Pyper Blackman lead a defense, which has six shutouts.
“(We’re) playing good soccer right now,” Theisen said. “(We’re) moving the ball again. There’re multiple scoring threats. So, I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
The Eagles, seeking their first appearance in the state tournament since 2018 and third overall, are 3-1-1 in their last five matches.
“This group has been more open to changing formations and they’re taking that responsibility on themselves,” Theisen said. “So, their soccer IQ is probably the highest of a group I’ve had as a whole.”
Now that the postseason is in full swing in all fall sports, here are some other things to watch:
Liberty girls volleyball flying under the radar
There is no shortage of quality girls volleyball teams in the county.
Three teams are seeded in the top five in Division I, including top-seeded Berlin, second-seeded Liberty and fifth-seeded Olentangy Orange. Big Walnut is the top seed in Division II and Buckeye Valley is seeded second in Division IV.
Judging by recent history, there’s a good chance at least one area team will make the state tournament after Orange and BV last year, Berlin in 2024, Orange in 2023 and Liberty in 2021.
Despite the high seed, the Patriots (19-3) are flying under the radar this season. Liberty, whose only losses came in a 10-day span early in the season, is riding a 13-match winning streak as it heads into tournament play.
They’ve lost only three sets during the winning streak.
“We lost in the regional semifinals last year (and) we graduated some starters,” Liberty coach Jen Chapman said. “I wasn’t even sure what to expect.
“I started seeing them come together over the summer and I knew we maybe had some freshmen impact players that could be coming up,” she said. “I thought we might be a sneaky good team.”
Freshman outside hitter Quinn Smith leads the Patriots with 211 kills, and freshman middle hitter Gia Saraullo adds 108 kills, 43 blocks and 29 aces. Three others have more than 100 kills this season for Liberty, which opens at home against 24th-seeded Groveport in a district semifinal.
The winner plays 13th-seeded Licking Heights or 18th-seeded Newark in a final Oct. 29 at Central Crossing.
Five players have more than 170 digs, led by senior defensive specialist Delaney Larkin. Sophomore Sophia Aquillo has 397 assists and junior Greta Holman has 245 assists in Liberty’s new two-setter system. Holman also has 130 kills.
But the game changer for Liberty this season has been on the block, led by senior middle hitter Caroline Scott with 57, and serving, which is led by Aquillo’s 34 aces.
“Definitely our blocking, serving and then our offense being a little more well-rounded (really made a difference),” Chapman said.
Berlin (21-1), which beat Liberty in four sets on Sept. 8, opens against 25th-seeded Westland on Oct. 28. The winner plays 15th-seeded Hilliard Bradley or 17th-seeded Westerville North in a district final on Oct. 31 at Central Crossing.
If the Patriots and the Bears were to play again, it wouldn’t be until the regional final round.
Orange (14-8), which hosts 21st-seeded Delaware in its opener in a district semifinal Oct. 26, wouldn’t see either Liberty or Berlin until the state final.
The Pioneers-Pacers winner plays the winner of eight-seeded Jerome and 19th-seeded Darby in the final Oct. 29 at Westerville Central.
Big Walnut (22-0), which was the only team to hand Berlin a loss, hosts 19th-seeded Franklin Heights in a Division II district semifinal Oct. 27. The winner plays either eighth-seeded Mount Vernon or 17th-seeded Briggs in a final Oct. 29 at Jonathan Alder.
Buckeye Valley opened Division IV tournament play with a three-set win over 13th-seeded KIPP Columbus. The Barons host 15th-seeded East in a district semifinal and the winner plays third-seeded Johnstown or fourth-seeded London in a final Oct. 31 at Mount Vernon Nazarene.
Area boys soccer field is stacked, too
Five area teams remain in the boys soccer district tournament, though at least one of them will be going home in the next round.
Second seeded Orange, fourth-seeded Olentangy, eighth-seeded Liberty and 10th-seeded Berlin will play for a district title in Division I on Oct. 28. Buckeye Valley, seeded ninth in Division II, is in the semifinal round.
The marquee matchup pits district and OCC-Cardinal Division rivals Olentangy (13-2-3) and Berlin (8-5-5) against each other in Lewis Center.
Olentangy beat 26th-seeded Westland 3-0 and Berlin knocked off 18th-seeded Westerville South 2-1. Both were home matches on home Oct. 21.
The Braves beat the Bears 3-1 in the league finale on Oct. 6 at Berlin.
The Pioneers (15-0-3) got goals from eight different players in an 8-0 win over 23rd-seeded Pickerington Central on Oct. 21. Orange hosts ninth-seeded and OCC-Central rival Dublin Coffman.
Orange beat the Shamrocks 3-2 on Sept. 15 in league play.
The Patriots (8-7-3) needed overtime to defeat OCC-Central rival Upper Arlington 2-1 on Oct. 21 and will play at fifth-seeded Worthington Kilbourne on Oct. 28.
Buckeye Valley (9-7-1) faces a tall task in the semifinal round at top-seeded Watterson on Oct. 28. The Barons beat Horizon Science 2-0 on Oct. 21 in Delaware. The final is Oct. 31 at Kilbourne Run Sports Park in Columbus.
Cross country postseason underway
The Big Walnut boys cross country team took home a Division II district championship, scoring 46 points to beat out second-place Watterson (54) in the 10-team meet.
The top six teams qualified for the regional meet, which is held Oct. 31 at Pickerington North in all divisions.
Ethan Shultz (15:19.0) finished second of 74 runners to lead the Eagles, who had all four scorers finish in the top 15.
Buckeye Valley (159) placed sixth to advance as well, led by senior Alex Stankus (11th, 16:24.4).
Big Walnut’s girls team also advanced, scoring 40 points to finish second in the seven-team field behind winner Watterson (22). Five teams qualified.
Senior Grace Buskirk (18:14.7) led the Eagles with a second-place finish of 50 runners.
The Buckeye Valley girls (119) finished fourth of 11 teams on Oct. 24 at Darby as the top six teams advanced. The Barons were led by freshman Alexa Diebler (ninth of 80 runners, 20:07.0).
Division I teams Delaware, Olentangy, Berlin, Liberty and Orange begin the postseason at the regional meet.
Patriots field hockey hopes to crash the party
Liberty is the only county team still playing.
The Patriots are seeded seventh and play at fourth-seeded Columbus Academy in a regional semifinal on Oct. 27.
The winner will play fifth-seeded Watterson or sixth-seeded Kilbourne for the regional championship Oct. 31 at Liberty.
The Patriots, whose only other appearance at state was 2016, advanced with a 1-0 win over eighth-seeded Coffman. Addy Hampton scored the game’s only goal and Ella Robison preserved the shutout with six saves for Liberty.
Han, Cordell win individual titles
The area already has two individual champions this fall in Olentangy’s Jodie Han and Berlin’s Soleil Cordell, and both did it emphatically.
Han obliterated the state record at the Division I girls golf state tournament Oct. 12-13 at NCR Country Club in Kettering.
The junior shot a two-round combined score of 129 to win by 11 strokes.
Cordell captured her second Division I state title in as many years, and she did it in dominant fashion.
Cordell, a University of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville commit, rolled through the state tournament Oct. 15-16 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason.
Perhaps her most dominant match came in the final where Cordell defeated Cincinnati Oak Hills junior Renee Harper 6-2, 6-0.
Cordell finished the season 29-0 and wrapped up her career with a 56-match winning streak. She lost only one set during the overall streak.
Han’s performance bested New Albany’s Mia Hammond, who held the previous record of 136, which she set in 2023.
Han also beat out former teammate and 2026 Olentangy graduate Meadow Tian’s single-round record of 66 in both rounds by shooting a 64 on the first day and a 65 on the second.
Led by junior Amelia Buettner’s third-place finish with a 141, Orange (623) was third in their first appearance at state as a team since 2018 and fifth overall.
For the boys, Berlin junior Owen Heilmann (151) finished tied for 20th in the Division I boys golf tournament and Buckeye Valley (687) was 10th in Division II in its second consecutive state appearance.
