Senior Tackle: Football finished, Cade Stover looking ahead for Lexington
Ohio State commitment Cade Stover is set to embark on his final season of high school football and basketball at Lexington (Ohio) High School. Lexington, a small town of just about 4,700 people near Mansfield, is a farm community that’s played an instrumental role in raising Stover, the country’s eighth-ranked outside linebacker. He committed to the Buckeyes in late April this year, picking Ohio State over Penn State, Notre Dame and 20 other schools. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound athlete is on the verge of becoming his school’s all-time leading scorer in basketball, and Cade Stover will share all of the ups and downs of his senior year with Lettermen Row in this weekly journal.
Last Friday night was the last time I will ever get to play a high school football game. It still feels weird to say that.
We lost by a large margin against Sandusky, which played a great game. They beat us 56-12, and it just seemed we didn’t have an answer to anything they did.Â
It was nowhere close to being how I wanted my last game to go, and it hurt to go out that way. But after starting the season 1-4 and then making it to Week 12, we accomplished something that many people only see in stories and I’m proud of our team. For me to have the honor to live it and experience it with my brothers is something I will remember for the rest of my life.
I am always going to be proud that I played alongside these guys.
I just want to thank every one of my teammates that made my last season better than I could have ever asked for. The bonds that I formed with each of them will be a bond that will last a lifetime. Thank you to Lexington High School and all of the fans that came and supported us in the rain or in the sunshine. Lexington will always hold a special spot in my heart, and I gave every ounce of effort to the town in my four years of football here. I hope you all know that I will do the same thing on the football field at Ohio State.Â
But before I leave for Columbus, we’ve got some unfinished business to attend to here. My favorite time of the year is among us now — basketball season.
The transition to basketball is my favorite and most looked forward to time, and I know that’s weird for a “football” player. Lexington is a basketball town, has been for decades. And I have 57 points to go until I become the school’s all-time leading scorer, something that I’ve worked hard for over the years and something I want to make sure I accomplish.
That may answer some of your questions about football, because obviously I will not be graduating early and enrolling at Ohio State in January.
I love the sport of basketball too much to let my last season go, and I could never leave my best friends that are on the basketball team. We have played together since the third grade and have always had such a tight bond. When I say we are all best friends, I mean it. We hang out together all the time. We have dreamed of a state title since we first picked up the ball, and last year we fell short making it to the final four. This year we are hungrier and more focused, because this is the last shot we get. I couldn’t pass that up.
There are so many new challenges for me to face coming up in my life, and that’s one of the reasons I’m not trying to hurry up to get to college. It thrills me to look to the future and what I have the chance to accomplish, but there is nowhere else I would rather be than here with one more basketball season left.
After that? A new journey begins in Columbus, and I’m going to make the most of those when they come.
Thank you to everyone who has read my journals each week. I hope that you all enjoyed them. As always, Go Bucks!
