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High School Football: Wellington welcomes grateful players from Oberlin

Todd Shapiro
The Chronicle-Telegram

Aug 13, 2026 4:11 PM

WELLINGTON — The cancellation of Oberlin’s football 

season wasn’t the end for some of its players after all.

Earlier this week six student-athletes who expected to play for their home school this season instead joined the Wellington team.

The newly passed Ohio Student Athlete Mobility Act allows student-athletes to play for a team in a bordering district if their home school does not offer the sport.

“It’s such a surreal moment. We’re fortunate to have Wellington allow us to play here,” said senior offensive-defensive lineman Jaden Brown. “For a while I thought we weren’t going to be able to play our senior year. I'm glad Coach (Rob) Howells allowed us to come.”

Wellington's Howell said all of the coaches in the Lorain County League have a close relationship and he was happy to be able to help Oberlin and its student-athletes through this difficult time.

“We’re trying to do what's best for the kids and the game of football,” Howells said.

With the Dukes' opening game at Western Reserve just a week away, they have been working hard to integrate the Oberlin players into their program on and off the field.

“The biggest thing is to welcome them with open arms because they’re our brothers now,” Wellington senior defensive end/fullback Tyler Burns said. “At the end of the day, if you’re wearing a maroon, white or black jersey, you’re going to be part of this family.

“Football is like my escape from reality. It hit me hard to think they almost didn’t have a football season. As a senior I couldn’t even imagine not being able to play my senior year.”

For the past five years, dating to middle school, Brian Boone has worn an Oberlin jersey. After last week’s announcement the school didn't have enough players to field a team, Boone didn’t know if he'd ever have the chance to play football again.

“It crushed us but we turned that energy into finding a new team so that we could have a senior year,” Boone said. “At first I thought I’d have to move to a different school to find an opportunity to play my final year of football.”

Boone didn’t know exactly what to expect when he came to Wellington practice but is quickly getting acclimated.

“I was nervous but they really welcomed us in,” he said. “It’s means a lot that they welcomed us in because football means more than most things to me. It’s wonderful to see a community open their arms to you after you’ve been rivals.”

Like many smaller schools in the area, Wellington began practice with low numbers. The addition of six players has allowed for more competition on the practice field and will allow the Dukes to play a JV schedule.

“It’s a unique experience,” Wellington sophomore Dom Wright said. “Those guys coming in helped us a lot because we were low on numbers ourselves. I know what football means to me and what it probably means to them, so I’m excited for them to have a chance to be a Duke.”

At least three schools across the state have canceled their football season due to low numbers, and Plymouth, which was scheduled to be Wellington’s Week 3 opponent, dropped down to eight-man football.

So while the Wellington-Oberlin collaboration is one of the first in the state, it may become more common in the future.

“You just have to preach family atmosphere,” Howells said. “We’re all here for the same reason and that is play football and have fun and hopefully along the way reap the benefits our great game has to offer and the life lessons that come with it.”

All six former Oberlin players are expected to make their Wellington debut tonight in a scrimmage against Rittman.

Wellington High School Welcomes Mapleton and New London
Student-Athletes on their High School Girls Soccer team

Mapleton and New London High School student-athletes will have the opportunity to play girls soccer with Wellington Exempted Village Schools this fall. Six soccer student-athletes from Mapleton and one athlete from New London have joined the Wellington Lady Dukes soccer team.  Prior to Mapleton and New London athletes joining Wellington’s team, the Dukes were low on numbers. 

The Student Athlete Mobility Act (SAM) was passed on June 9, 2026 by the Ohio Legislature, stating student-athletes can petition to play team sports that their schools do not provide for at another nearby school.  Wellington’s Athletic Director John Bowman stated “I am grateful for the relationship between Wellington and neighboring high schools and to provide other school’s student-athletes the opportunity to play a sport they love here at Wellington.” 

Head girl’s soccer Coach Todd Miller shares that “I have told my players that being part of something bigger than yourself is a great lesson. I'm proud to be part of this team and can't wait to see all they achieve together. They might be from different schools, but we are all one team.”

Kenzie Hellickson, a Junior and striker from Mapleton, commented “I am grateful that Wellington stepped up and allowed us to come over and continue playing soccer with them. For a minute I was worried that we weren’t going to find a school that was accepting athletes and we wouldn’t have a season. Wellington treats us like their own and were welcoming right off the bat. We are getting along great as a team and with the coaching staff. I’m looking forward to the season officially beginning and what we can do as one.”

Wellington’s Senior goalie, Amelia Overstreet noted “I am so grateful to have a season this year, and I thank the Mapleton and New London girls for joining us and making it possible. I am very excited and can’t wait to see what this year has in store for us!”

Junior Camryn Stump, a midfielder at Wellington shared “I would like to thank the girls from Mapleton and New London for being willing to help us out so we could all have the chance at a season. This was seriously the best case scenario, we are learning to play together, while also learning so much from each other. I am so excited to see what we can accomplish together!”

Wellington High School Student-Athlete Reece Leiby
Breaks School Record for most soccer assists 

Wellington High School student-athlete Reece Leiby accrued 3 assists Wednesday September 24 against Clearview in the Dukes 7-1 win over the Clippers. Reece now has fifty total career assists, the most by any Wellington Dukes soccer player in school history. As just a junior, Reece will have plenty of time to increase his total to a record that will be hard to beat. The previous record was held for seventeen years and set by AJ Hyde back in 2008. 

Wellington’s Varsity Soccer Head Coach Will Pabst shares that “Reece has been able to capitalize on the last few years of building back our program and has been a huge part of the goal to get it back to what it once was with our history in terms of the regional titles, conference championships and district championships we have won. In order to get a record breaking statistic like that you have to have good teammates around you and he has that.

Last year we had a very strong team and a good striker in Spencer Brasee that helped score a bunch of those goals for him.  It takes a team effort and Reece is part of the engine that makes our team go. It’s a huge accomplishment.  I had the privilege of playing with AJ Hyde and even scoring some of the goals for the previous record and to think about what the teams were with former Coach Bill Little. Breaking the record as a junior is extremely impressive and will set a high standard moving forward with big goals for younger kids coming up through the youth to try to achieve.”