Indian Hill routs Roger Bacon 35-14 in Division III debut

No. 25 Indian Hill opened its 2026 season with a 35-14 rout of Roger Bacon on Friday, Aug. 21, backing up the Braves' state-championship talk with a convincing three-touchdown margin at Norwood's Shea Stadium.

Sycamore had a rougher start. No. 20 Kings handled the Aviators 34-6 in the other local opener, according to WLWT's Blitz 5 scoreboard.

Indian Hill 35, Roger Bacon 14

The Braves' first game as a Division III program went about as well as coach John Rodenberg could have hoped. Indian Hill, which went 13-1 as a Division IV state semifinalist in 2025, jumped up a classification this fall and didn't miss a beat.

The game was played at Shea Stadium in Norwood after a severe storm on Aug. 12 sent a sewer overflow across Roger Bacon's Bron Bacevich Memorial Stadium turf. Roger Bacon athletic director Steve Rossi scrambled to find a neutral site, and Indian Hill had offered to host before Norwood was chosen.

Senior quarterback Devlan Daniel, a Mississippi State baseball commit, led the offense. Daniel threw for 1,192 yards and 13 touchdowns and rushed for 1,116 yards and 21 scores last season, making him one of the Cincinnati Hills League's most dangerous dual threats entering 2026. Junior tailback Jacob Alexander, who ran for 674 yards and seven touchdowns in 2025, figures to benefit from the attention Daniel draws.

"He's poised to do some really great things because people will focus on Devlan and that can make Jacob even better," Rodenberg said in a July preseason preview on the Indian Hill athletics site.

Defensively, the Braves returned junior linebackers Topher Wachtel and Joey Jernigan, who each recorded 83 tackles last year, and senior all-state defensive back Dylan Hartman. That unit allowed just 10 points per game in 2025.

Roger Bacon, which finished 5-6 last season, won't return to its home field until at least Oct. 9, when the Motz Group is expected to complete a full turf replacement.

Kings 34, Sycamore 6

The Aviators ran into a buzzsaw. Kings, ranked No. 20 in the TriStateFootball.com preseason poll, dominated and held Sycamore to a single score. Individual stats and scoring details were not available as of Saturday morning.