OLIVESBURG — Crestview’s spectacular football campaign will receive its toughest test of the season on Saturday night.
In Division VI, Region 22, second-seeded Crestview (12-0) will play No. 3 Columbia Station (12-0) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Medina’s Ken Dukes Stadium. The Bruins defeated Hopewell-Loudon 36-6 in a running-clock game last week.
Also in Region 22, No. 8 Colonel Crawford (10-2) will play No. 5 Columbus Grove (10-2) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Donnell Stadium in Findlay. The two winners will tangle the following weekend for a regional championship. Colonel Crawford dismissed top-seeded Carey 21-14 on Friday night. That leaves the Cougars as the highest-seeded team in the region.
On Friday night, senior Hayden Kuhn’s electrifying 97-yard interception return for a TD helped Crestview seal a 31-22 win against Hamler Patrick Henry (7-5) in the Division VI regional quarterfinals.
Also in the area, a familiar postseason opponent awaits Mansfield Senior in the regional semifinals.
Fifth-seeded Senior High (10-2) will take on top-seeded Parma Heights Holy Name (9-2) at 7 p.m. Friday at Brunswick’s Auto Mart Stadium. The Tygers and Green Wave met in the postseason in the 2019 regional semifinals as Wooster’s Follis Field. Senior High won that meeting 45-30 en route to a state runner-up finish.
The regional semifinals shift to neutral sites after the higher seeded team hosted in the first two rounds of the playoffs. Additionally, games will be played on Fridays and Saturdays for the remainder of the postseason. All games were played on Fridays in the first two rounds.
The other two area teams, Lucas and Danville, will face off in a Division VII, Region 25 semifinal at 7 p.m. Saturday at Clear Fork’s Colt Corral.
Mansfield Senior punched its ticket to the regional semis with a 16-0 win over No. 13 Defiance. The Tygers haven’t allowed a point in two postseason games after opening the playoffs with a 38-0 win over Ontario. Holy Name advanced with a 20-10 win over No. 8 Rocky River Lutheran West.
Crestview faced its stiffest challenge to date, holding off No. 10 Patrick Henry 31-22 at Scott Bailey Memorial Field. Columbia had no such trouble with No. 6 Hopewell-Loudon, dispatching the Chieftains 36-6.
Colonel Crawford pulled off one of the biggest upsets of regional quarterfinal weekend, stunning No. 1 seed and 2021 Division VI state champ Carey 21-14. The Blue Devils had won 26 straight regular season games, including a 7-3 win over the Eagles in Week 6 of the regular season.
Lucas (6-6) is the lowest remaining seed in all of Division VII. The Cubs won their second road game of the postseason, knocking off No. 2 Lowellville 35-25. Meanwhile, Danville held on for a wild 42-41 win over Hillsdale as the Falcons misfired on a potential game-winning field goal with just seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
Here’s how the entire state shapes up with this weekend’s playoff pairings:
OHSAA Football Regional Semifinal Pairings
Pairings shown with regional seed and record. Designated home team listed first (higher seed).
Division I
All games Friday, 7 p.m.
Region 1
1 Lakewood St. Edward (11-1) vs. 5 Cleveland St. Ignatius (8-3) at Euclid Community Stadium
2 Medina (11-1) vs. 3 Mentor (8-3) at Twinsburg Tiger Stadium
Region 2
4 Perrysburg (11-1) vs. 8 Powell Olentangy Liberty (7-5) at Fostoria Memorial Stadium
2 Springfield (10-1) vs. 3 Centerville (10-2) at Northmont Premier Health Stadium
Region 3
1 Gahanna-Lincoln (11-1) vs. 4 Pickerington Central (9-3) at St. Francis DeSales Alumni Stadium
2 Upper Arlington (10-2) vs. 3 New Albany (9-3) at Westerville Central High School
Region 4
1 Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller (11-1) vs. 5 Mason (10-2) at Middletown Barnitz Stadium
2 Cincinnati Elder (10-2) vs. 3 West Chester Lakota West (12-0) at Princeton Jake Sweeney Automotive Stadium
Division II
All games Friday, 7 p.m.
Region 5
1 Akron Archbishop Hoban (11-1) vs. 5 Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary (8-3) at University of Akron InfoCision Stadium-Summa Field
2 Painesville Riverside (11-1) vs. 3 Hudson (12-0) at Maple Heights High School
Region 6
1 Avon (11-1) vs. 5 Olmsted Falls (10-2) at TBA
2 Medina Highland (12-0) vs. 3 Toledo Central Catholic (11-1) at Perkins Firelands Health Stadium
Region 7
1 Massillon Washington (10-1) vs. 5 Sunbury Big Walnut (10-2) at Mansfield Senior Arlin Field
2 Uniontown Lake (11-1) vs. 3 Westerville South (11-1) at Dover Crater Stadium
Region 8
1 Cincinnati Winton Woods (12-0) vs. 4 Kings Mills Kings (11-1) at Mason Atrium Stadium
3 Trenton Edgewood (11-1) vs. 10 Cincinnati Anderson (7-5) at Little Miami Panther Stadium
Division III
All games Friday, 7 p.m.
Region 9
1 Chardon (10-1) vs. 13 Chagrin Falls Kenston (9-3) at Boardman Stadium
2 Canfield (10-1) vs. 3 Youngstown Ursuline (10-2) at Niles McKinley Bo Rein Stadium
Region 10
1 Parma Heights Holy Name (9-2) vs. 5 Mansfield Senior (10-2) at Brunswick Auto Mart Stadium
6 Norton (10-2) vs. 10 Parma Padua Franciscan (7-5) at North Royalton Serpentini Stadium
Region 11
1 Thornville Sheridan (11-1) vs. 5 Carroll Bloom-Carroll (11-1) at Lancaster Fulton Field
2 Jackson (10-2) vs. 3 Columbus Bishop Watterson (11-1) at Chillicothe Herrnstein Field
Region 12
1 Hamilton Badin (12-0) vs. 4 Wapakoneta (11-1) at Trotwood-Madison Miami Valley Hospital SportsPlex
2 Mount Orab Western Brown (11-1) vs. 3 Tipp City Tippecanoe (11-1) at Bellbrook Stadium – DL Holmes Field
Division IV
All games Saturday, 7 p.m.
Region 13
1 Beloit West Branch (11-1) vs. 13 Akron Buchtel (7-4) at Ravenna Portage Community Bank Stadium, Harry Gilchrist Field
6 Jefferson Area (9-3) vs. 7 Canton South (9-3) at South Range Reminder Athletic Complex
Region 14
1 Cleveland Glenville (11-0) vs. 4 Elyria Catholic (10-2) at North Ridgeville Ranger Stadium
2 Millersburg West Holmes (12-0) vs. 6 Van Wert (11-1) at Marion Harding Ohio Health Field at Harding Stadium
Region 15
4 Gnadenhutten Indian Valley (9-3) vs. 9 Columbus Bishop Ready (8-3) at Newark White Field
2 Steubenville (10-2) vs. 3 Columbus East (10-1) at Zanesville Sulsberger Stadium
Region 16
1 Cincinnati Wyoming (12-0) vs. 13 Clarksville Clinton-Massie (7-5) at Lakota West Firebird Field
2 Cincinnati Taft (10-2) vs. 6 Cincinnati Archbishop McNicholas (7-5) at Princeton Jake Sweeney Automotive Stadium
Division V
All games Friday, 7 p.m.
Region 17
1 Canfield South Range (12-0) vs. 13 Youngstown Cardinal Mooney (6-6) at Girard Arrowhead Stadium
2 Sugarcreek Garaway (12-0) vs. 3 Perry (10-2) at Solon Stewart Field
Region 18
1 Liberty Center (12-0) vs. 4 Coldwater (11-1) at Lima Senior Spartan Stadium
2 Bloomdale Elmwood (11-1) vs. 3 Pemberville Eastwood (12-0) at Napoleon Buckenmeyer Stadium
Region 19
1 Ironton (12-0) vs. 5 Portsmouth West (11-1) at Portsmouth Clark Athletic Complex
2 Canal Winchester Harvest Preparatory (12-0) vs. 6 Wheelersburg (9-3) at Nelsonville-York Boston Field
Region 20
1 Germantown Valley View (11-1) vs. 5 Cincinnati Madeira (11-1) at Fairfield Alumni Stadium
2 West Milton Milton-Union (11-0) vs. 6 Brookville (11-1) at Xenia Doug Adams Stadium
Division VI
All games Saturday, 7 p.m.
Region 21
1 Kirtland (12-0) vs. 4 Dalton (10-2) at Nordonia Boliantz Stadium
2 Mogadore (10-0) vs. 6 Cuyahoga Heights (9-2) at Twinsburg Tiger Stadium
Region 22
5 Columbus Grove (10-2) vs. 8 North Robinson Colonel Crawford (10-2) at Findlay Donnell Stadium
2 Ashland Crestview (12-0) vs. 3 Columbia Station Columbia (12-0) at Medina Ken Dukes Stadium
Region 23
1 Beverly Fort Frye (11-1) vs. 5 Coal Grove Dawson-Bryant (8-4) Lancaster Fulton Field
2 Nelsonville-York (11-1) vs. 3 Bellaire (8-4) Philo Sam Hatfield Stadium
Region 24
1 Maria Stein Marion Local (12-0) vs. 4 Versailles (9-3) at Wapakoneta Mercy Health Wapak Ford Field
2 Harrod Allen East (11-1) vs. 3 New Madison Tri-Village (11-1) at Bellefontaine AcuSport Stadium
Division VII
All games Saturday, 7 p.m.
Region 25
1 Warren John F. Kennedy (10-1) vs. 4 Salineville Southern (11-1) at Canfield High School
3 Danville (10-2) vs. 10 Lucas (6-6) at Clear Fork High School
Region 26
1 McComb (11-1) vs. 4 Lima Central Catholic (8-4) at Ottawa-Glandorf Titan Stadium
2 Antwerp (12-0) vs. 6 Gibsonburg (10-2) at Liberty Center Kip Kern Field at Rex Lingruen Stadium
Region 27
1 Newark Catholic (9-1) vs. 5 Waterford (9-3) at Logan Chieftain Stadium
2 Hannibal River (11-1) vs. 3 Caldwell (11-1) at St. Clairsville Red Devils Stadium
Region 28
1 Ansonia (11-1) vs. 5 New Bremen (9-3) at Greenville Harmon Field
2 Fort Loramie (10-2) vs. 6 Minster (8-4) at Sidney Memorial Stadium
Which Seeds Have Advanced to the Third Round
Eight schools seeded ninth or higher have reached the regional semifinals, including four No. 13 seeds, three No. 10 seeds and one No. 9 seed.
Of the 28 regions, 25 No. 1 seeds have advanced, 24 No. 2 seeds, 19 No. 3 seeds, 11 No. 4 seeds, 13 No. 5 seeds, nine No. 6 seeds, one No. 7 seed and two No. 8 seeds.
Brackets and playoff information: https://www.ohsaa.org/Sports-Tournaments/Football/Football-2021/2022-OHSAA-Football-Playoffs-Coverage
Media Note: Host sites handle media credentials for all regional playoff games. Press box seats are determined by the priority seating scale at: https://ohsaaweb.blob.core.windows.net/files/Sports/Football/FB-MediaPressBoxMemo.pdf
All-Time Playoff History Database: https://ohsaaweb.blob.core.windows.net/files/Sports/Football/history/FootballParticipants.pdf
OHSAA football home: https://ohsaa.org/sports/football | Season Calendar: https://www.ohsaa.org/Sports/News/2022-football-season-calendar
MaxPreps Ohio Football Home (stats, scoreboard): https://www.maxpreps.com/state/football/ohio.htm
Final Regular-Season Associated Press State Poll (link courtesy Willoughby News-Herald): https://www.news-herald.com/2021/10/25/ohio-high-school-football-state-poll-for-oct-25-final/
