London takes late lead to push past Jackson in thriller
By: Phoenix Brown
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LONDON, Ohio (WOUB)—After last week’s thrilling wins for both the Jackson Ironmen (9-2, 5-0 FAC) and the London Red Raiders (11-0, 5-0 CBC), they met in London on Friday night for the OHSAA Region 12 Semifinals. Jackson took the lead late in the quarterfinals against Miami Trace thanks to a touchdown caught by Ryan Seimetz, and the Red Raiders did the same with a Blake Reay touchdown with under a minute left.
On the Red Raiders’ first drive, multiple carries brought London to Jackson’s 32-yard line, and a short pass by Blake Reay to Kyler Russell allowed Russell to charge into the end zone to open the scoring early in the matchup. After a complete field goal attempt by Elijah Noble, the Red Raiders led the Ironmen 7-0 with nine minutes left in the first quarter.
After a long pass from Bodhi Wolford to Eli Ray to put the Ironmen on the 17-yard line, Eli Ray played déjà vu with an open catch along the away sideline to tie the score 7-7, ending the first quarter.
London’s carrying game played a large factor in their scoring, as Bryston Toronto’s efforts brought the Red Raiders to the five-yard line with five minutes in the second quarter. On third down, Blake Reay sent a shot to Ladainan McNeal, allowing him to easily push into the end zone to break the tie. After Eli Noble’s clean field goal attempt, The Red Raiders held a 14-7 lead.
Jackson took no exception to this, so they fought back in quick manner. Bodhi Wolford chucked a 29-yard pass to a wide-open Ryan Seimetz in the end zone to bring the score even once again with 4:26 left in the first half. After multiple flags in play throughout the final four minutes of the first half, neither side scored to end the half tied at 14.
Second half started with Jackson’s offense moving up the field with short passes, which set up Thatcher Brown to kick a smooth 23-yard field goal to emerge on the scoreboard, up 17-14 with four minutes left in the third quarter.
On that same kickoff return, London’s Traivon Howard held grasp on the football and never slowed down to the house to take back the lead for London. Along with an Eli Noble field goal, the Red Raiders swiped the lead back, up 21-7. London held the lead through the conclusion of the third quarter to bring the match into the fourth.
Friday night’s matchup was truly a battle, as Jackson made their way up to the two-yard line with nine minutes to go. Gaven Sites took the handoff from Bodhi Wolford and budged his way into the end zone to regain the lead for his Ironmen, up 23-21.
With 40 seconds left in the match and London on Jackson’s 14-yard line, Blake Reay withstood pressure from the Ironmen defense and sent a bullet to Ladainan McNeal for a touchdown to take the lead with 35 seconds remaining. Eli Noble’s extra point cleared the uprights, and London grabbed the 28-24 lead. With five seconds left, Bodhi Wolford lost grip of the football thanks to a strip sack by the London defense, and that sealed the deal for the Red Raiders.
The Red Raiders win Friday night’s match 28-24, sending the Red Raiders to the Region 12 Finals to face Tipp City on November 21st. For the Ironmen of Jackson High School, they conclude their 2025-26 season with an overall record of 9-3, with a perfect conference record of 5-0. Head Coach Andy Hall will look to his future stars, as key pieces of the Jackson Ironmen, including quarterback Bodhi Wolford and wide receiver Ryan Seimetz, who will graduate in 2026.