Teays Valley's Ethan Schwalbauch wins fan vote for top high school LB in central Ohio

Teays Valley senior Ethan Schwalbauch is the fans' choice for the top high school football linebacker in central Ohio. He finished first in a Dispatch poll that accompanied our look at the top 10 LBs in the Columbus area .

Schwalbauch received 39,431 of 87,589 votes (45%). New Albany's Gabe Cofer was second with 22,366 votes (25.5%) and Watkins Memorial's Rocco Paschal was third with 12,720 (14.5%).

The 5-foot-10, 209-pound Schwalbauch had 128 tackles, including seven for loss, and one sack last season. He was first-team all-district , first-team all-MSL-Buckeye and second-team all-state in Division II .

Teays Valley, which has moved to the OCC, opens the season Friday at Grove City and then plays two more non-league games: Aug. 30 at Bloom-Carroll and Sept. 6 vs. Watkins Memorial.

The Vikings begin their seven-game OCC-Buckeye schedule Sept. 13 against visiting Lancaster. The league schedule also includes Sept. 20 at Reynoldsburg, Sept. 27 vs. Groveport, Oct. 4 vs. Canal Winchester, Oct. 11 at Newark, Oct. 18 vs. Pickerington Central and Oct. 25 at fellow first-year OCC member Logan.

aresnik@dispatch.com

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Teays Valley's Ethan Schwalbauch wins fan vote for top high school LB in central Ohio