High school football in Ohio is played at one of the highest levels in America. Ohio legends are made on Friday nights, and no player gets more shine than the names called on the stadium’s PA system after scoring a touchdown.
From future NFL players to players who could barely get a cup of coffee playing Division III, the greatest touchdown scorers in Ohio football history come from every corner of the state.
These are the players with the most career touchdowns in Ohio high school football history.
14. Jordan Scanlon: 93 Touchdowns (Tie)
High school: Clinton-Massie High School (Clarksville, Ohio)
Position: Running back
Years: 2007-10
Bottom line: Jordan Scanlon was never an easy out for opposing tacklers at 5-foot-11 and 210 pounds, and the Clinton-Massie star not only scored almost 100 career touchdowns but also finished his prep career with 6,051 rushing yards.
Scanlon finished his football career at NCAA Division III Muskingum University, where he finished with 778 career rushing yards and 10 touchdowns.
14. Tyler Walter: 93 Touchdowns (Tie)
High school: Sugarcreek Garaway High School (Sugarcreek, Ohio)
Position: Quarterback
Years: 2010-12
Bottom line: Tyler Walter is the only quarterback to make the list and represents an interesting statistical anomaly. He rushed for 93 touchdowns and threw for 93 touchdowns in three years as the starter for Sugarcreek Garaway.
Walter played collegiately at NCAA Division III Ohio Northern University, where he served primarily as a backup.
12. Chuck Moore: 95 Touchdowns (Tie)
High school: Mogadore High School (Mogadore, Ohio)
Position: Running back
Years: 1993-96
Bottom line: Say Chuck Moore’s name to Ohio high school football fans and they’ll tell you about the final game of his career, when he led Mogadore High to a 61-58 triple overtime win over St. Henry in the 1996 Division IV state championship game. Mogadore trailed St. Henry 35-9 at halftime.
Moore went to play college football for NCAA Division III powerhouse Mount Union, where he won four consecutive national championships and capped his career with a perfect 14-0 season and was named 2001 NCAA Division III National Player of the Year.
12. Jeremy Larkin: 95 Touchdowns (Tie)
Paul Vernon / AP Photo
High school: Cincinnati La Salle High School (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Position: Running back
Years: 2012-15
Bottom line: Jeremy Larkin led La Salle High to back-to-back state championships as a junior and senior before signing with Northwestern. He played two seasons there. Then a diagnosis of cervical stenosis forced him to retire from football in 2018.
Larkin spent time as a graduate assistant at Northwestern and was hired to join new head coach Marcus Freeman’s coaching staff at Notre Dame in March 2022.
11. Brian Wagner: 97 Touchdowns
High school: Springfield Catholic Central High School (Springfield, Ohio)
Position: Running back
Years: 2004-07
Bottom line: Brian Wagner was a star running back at Springfield Catholic Central, but he was an even bigger star on the other side of the ball as a linebacker, where he was named Ohio Division IV Defensive Player of the Year as a senior in 2007.
Wagner’s prowess on defense translated well to the college level, where he led the nation in tackles at the University of Akron as a junior in 2011 before leaving for the University of Arizona as a graduate transfer in 2012.
Wagner shocked the college football world by stepping away from the game just months before his senior season, citing he “no longer loved playing the game.”
9. Storm Klein: 99 Touchdowns (Tie)
High school: Newark Licking Valley High School (Newark, Ohio)
Position: Running back
Years: 2005-08
Bottom line: Storm Klein was one of the great Ohio schoolboy sensations at Newark Licking Valley High. He signed with Ohio State and became the school’s starting middle linebacker by his junior year.
But Klein was arrested for domestic assault and thrown off the team before his senior season at Ohio State by first-year head coach Urban Meyer after Klein violently attacked his ex-girlfriend and the other of his child.
9. Blaine Maag: 99 Touchdowns (Tie)
Toledo Blade
High school: Columbus Grove High School (Columbus Grove, Ohio)
Position: Running back
Years: 2001-04
Bottom line: Blaine Maag was at his best during his senior season, when he rushed for 2,003 yards, led Columbus Grove High to the 2004 Division IV state championship and was named Division IV Offensive Player of the Year.
Maag’s future was in another sport. He won a state championship in the discus and was also a sprinter. Maag was an assistant track and field coach at Michigan State, then became the head coach at NCAA Division II University of Findlay, where he lasted five years before he resigned in 2021.
7. Jason Bainum: 104 Touchdowns (Tie)
Williamsburg High School Athletics
High school: Williamsburg High School (Williamsburg, Ohio)
Position: Running back
Years: 1998-2001
Bottom line: Jason Bainum’s career at Williamsburg High became a national story when he set the Ohio single-game record with 532 rushing yards in a win over Batavia Clermont Northeastern High on Sept. 28, 2001 — just 17 days after the 9/11 attacks.
Bainum’s exploits were covered by Sports Illustrated following his big game against Batavia Clermont. Featured as the lone tailback in a single-wing offense, Bainum rushed for 3,043 yards as a junior and followed that with a staggering 3,386 rushing yards as a senior, which he did in just 11 games.
Bainum played college football at NCAA Division III Capital University.
7. Trae Williams: 104 Touchdowns (Tie)
High school: Athens High School (The Plains, Ohio)
Position: Running back
Years: 2012-14
Bottom line: Running back Trae Wiliams may have been the one scoring all the touchdowns during his time at Athens High, but it was one of his teammates who would one day grab all the fame — 2019 Heisman Trophy winner and current Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.
Williams and Burrow had something very cool in common. Both of their fathers were defensive coaches at Ohio University. Williams’ father coached the defensive line, and Burrow’s father was the defensive coordinator.
Williams played collegiately at Northwestern, where he switched positions to defensive back.
6. LJ Scott: 105 Touchdowns
Sgt. Timothy Stewmam / U.S. Marine Corps
High school: Hubbard High School (Hubbard, Ohio)
Position: Running back
Years: 2011-14
Bottom line: LJ Scott was named the Ohio Division III Player of the Year in 2014 and was one of the nation’s top running back prospects for the Class of 2015.
Scott signed with Michigan State and endeared himself to Spartan fans as a freshman, when he led the team in rushing and scored the game-winning touchdown against Iowa in the Big Ten championship game and propelled MSU into the College Football Playoff.
Scott led the Spartans in rushing his first three seasons but only played in five games as a senior due to an ankle injury. Scott retired from football two days after he signed a contract with the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent.
5. Carlos Snow: 109 Touchdowns
High school: Cincinnati Academy of Physical Education (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Position: Running back
Years: 1983-86
Bottom line: Carlos Snow was a perp phenom for now-defunct Cincinnati Academy of Physical Education in the 1980s, leading the school to back-to-back state championships in his final two seasons in 1985 and 1986.
Snow, just 5-foot-8 and 195 bounds, had three seasons of over 2,000 rushing yards for Cape before signing with Ohio State, where he finished as the No. 6 rusher in school history with 2,974 rushing yards.
As far as pretty cool endings go, Snow returned to Ohio State to complete his bachelor’s degree in 2022 — 31 years after he played his final game for the Buckeyes.
4. Ryan Brewer: 117 Touchdowns
High school: Troy High School (Troy, Ohio)
Position: Running back
Years: 1995-98
Bottom line: Ryan Brewer set the Ohio single-season record with 2,856 rushing yards as a senior at Troy High in 1998 and had over 200 rushing yards in 14 consecutive games over his junior and senior seasons.
Brewer received one Division I scholarship offer, from South Carolina, but still played a significant part in Ohio college football history when he was named 2001 Outback Bowl Most Valuable Player after scoring three touchdowns in a win over Ohio State.
With the loss coming largely at the hands of an Ohio high school player who he’d passed on in the recruiting process, the loss to South Carolina was a major factor in the firing of Ohio State head coach John Cooper.
3. Tyrell Sutton: 117 Touchdowns
High school: Archbishop Hoban High School (Akron, Ohio)
Position: Running back
Years: 2001-04
Bottom line: Tyrell Sutton won the 2004 Mr. Football Award as the best high school football player in Ohio as a senior and is still the leading career rusher in Ohio high school football history with 9,426 rushing yards.
Sutton racked up 1,724 rushing yards as a freshman at Northwestern and was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year. He rushed for 1,000 yards as a sophomore before injuries kept him sidelined for large chunks of his last two seasons.
Sutton played two seasons for the Green Bay Packers before playing seven seasons in the Canadian Football League.
2. Richard Hall:121 Touchdowns
High school: Cincinnati Wyoming High School (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Position: Running back
Years: 1995-98
Bottom line: Richard Hall also starred at safety for Cincinnati Wyoming High, where he scored 46 touchdowns as a senior in 1998 and led his school to the state semifinals.
Hall signed with Ohio State but academic problems sidelined his career before he returned to play for the University of Cincinnati, where he rushed for over 1,000 yards as a senior.
1. Hubert Bobo: 123 Touchdowns
Julian C. Wilson / AP Photo
High school: Chauncey-Dover High School (Chauncey, Ohio)
Position: Running back
Years: 1949-52
Bottom line: Hubert Bobo starred at Chauncey-Dover High, then was in the backfield alongside Howard “Hopalong” Cassidy on Ohio State’s undefeated 1954 national championship team.
Bobo switched to linebacker in the professional ranks, playing one season in the Canadian Football League for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats before playing three seasons in the NFL for the Los Angeles Chargers and New York Titans.
