Five things I learned this weekend:Trotwood-Madison's defense is loaded
Wayne (Ohio) no longer has Braxton Miller at quarterback, but Trotwood-Madison's defensive showcase Friday night was impressive nonetheless. Based on talent, there might not be a better defense in the entire state than the Rams' starting 11. Senior safety Bam Bradley who has offers Ohio State, Penn State, Stanford and Tennessee, among others, is a big hitter and always around the ball. Junior cornerback Cam Burrows has just about every BCS school contacting him. Linebacker Mike McCray is also a Class of 2013 member who already has a number of offers. Collectively, they led a defense that held Wayne to seven points before a couple of late garbage-time touchdowns. McCray says there's no special recipe to the Rams' stout defense. "Just playing hard 24/7, 110 percent," he said. Talent helps too.Marian finds blueprint for stopping Dieter
South Bend Washington (Ind.) receiver Gehrig Dieter has received national attention since the end of August for his torrid start to the season. Two weekends ago, Dieter broke the national high school receiving record, and there was little reason to believe Dieter wouldn't continue to push not just the 100- but 200-yard mark every week. Even triple coverage often failed to put the clamps on Dieter. However, Dieter can't hurt you when he's not on the field (on offense, at least). Marian controlled the clock for most of the game, keeping Washington's offense on the sideline for much of the game. As a result, Dieter finished with just 79 yards.St. Edward steamrolling teams toward Don Bosco date
Ranked No. 8 in the Fab 50 national high school rankings, St. Edward has dominated its competition following a close call in the season opener against Cleveland Glenville. On Saturday, St. Edward beat a good Cincinnati Elder 30-10, bringing the Eagles another game closer to its Oct. 8 showdown with No. 1 Don Bosco (New Jersey). Obviously the Eagles won't say they are looking past their next two games, but it's unlikely they will trip up before then. Much like when New Jersey basketball powerhouses St. Anthony and St. Patrick played each other last year, it just could happen that this game could end up being looked at as the de facto high school national championship game come December.Midwest gets dragged back into realignment