MEDINA, Ohio — The Medina Battling Bees are taking on Olentangy under the Friday night lights this week.

What You Need To Know

  • The Medina High School football team is looking to win a state championship this season

  • The team has a lot of returning starters on the defensive side of the ball, so they're hoping that helps them in winning big games 

  • The Battling Bees face Olentangy under Friday night lights in week 2 

Cooper Josefczyk, a senior football player for Medina, said this football season is about revenge for him. The Battling Bees experienced some tough losses in the 2023 season against teams like St. Edward’s and Mentor, and Josefczyk wants to flip the script this season.

“Really just make a name for me, this defense and this whole entire team,” Josefczyk said.

Medina has gone to the regional finals three out of the last four seasons and won the conference championship two out of the last three years. Medina head coach, Larry Laird, said he wants to continue the winning pattern.

“The standard is set, and you know they work everyday to reach that bar that has been set,” Laird said.

There are many retiring starters on the defensive side of the ball for the Battling Bees including senior Tallen Hulvey, who expressed how much he wants to help take his team as far as possible in his farewell season.

“We want to be disciplined, you know, we want to be able to tackle a lot better than we did last year, we want to win way more games and get further in the playoffs,” Hulvey said.

Coach Laird said each year the team has four goals: win the season opener—which they did against Stow-Munroe Falls—then win the conference, go to the playoffs and win a state title.

“Those four goals never change, and the kids know those goals, and that’s the expectations,” Laird said.

Kickoff on Friday against Olentangy is at 7:00 p.m.