OHSAA releases football playoff brackets
OHSAA releases football playoff brackets
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It's the last week of October, and that means that those teams lucky enough are getting ready for Ohio's high school football playoffs.
The OHSAA released this year's tournament brackets on Sunday afternoon, and The Vindicator-Tribune Chronicle coverage area will have 21 teams competing for a chance to reach Canton.
Eight of the 21 teams received first-round byes after landing a top-four seed in their respective regions. The teams that get Friday off are Austintown Fitch, Salem, West Branch, Girard, Garrettsville Garfield, South Range, McDonald and Springfield.
Fitch earned the second seed in Division I, Region 1. The Falcons received a first-round bye and will host either Canton McKinley or Brunswick on Nov. 6.
In Division III, Region 9, Salem got the fourth seed and a bye. The Quakers will face the Glenville-University School winner in Salem in Week 12. In that same bracket, Howland will host Hawken in the first round on Friday.
There is one question regarding Region 9. Cardinal Mooney and Ursuline both host playoff games on Friday, but they also both play at Stambaugh Stadium. So Ursuline's Region 9 game might have a new location on Friday when Lake Catholic comes to town.
In Division IV, Region 13, West Branch is the No. 3 seed and will have this week off. Poland, as the 11th seed, will go on the road to face Woodridge in the opening round. The Warriors will host the Poland-Woodridge winner in their regional quarterfinal. Additionally, Hubbard made it as the 12th seed and will hit the road to face West Geauga on Friday.
Two area teams earned byes in Division V, Region 17. Girard got the third seed and Garrettsville Garfield is the fourth. Girard will host the winner of Cardinal Mooney and Fairless in the quarterfinal, and the G-Men will host either Conneaut or Chagrin Falls.
There is one local game that will be played in the bracket on Friday. Liberty will host Canton Central Catholic in an eight-nine matchup.
South Range was rewarded with the No. 2 seed in Division VI, Region 21. The Raiders await whoever wins when No. 10 Grand Valley goes to Smithville on Friday.
Fifth-seeded Mineral Ridge will host Wickliffe on Friday, and 11th-seeded Warren JFK will go to Hanoverton to take on United.
There's also one meeting between local teams in Region 21. The eight-nine matchup will have Columbiana heading to Brookfield for the first round.
Similar to Region 17, the Division VII, Region 25, bracket has two Mahoning Valley teams getting a week off.
McDonald is the top seed and will host the winner of the Lowellville at Independence game in the regional quarterfinal. Springfield got the fourth seed, and the Tigers will host the St. Paul-East Canton victor.
Mathews also made the Region 25 playoff as the 11th seed and will face a familiar opponent in the first round. The Mustangs will travel to Ashtabula to face Northeastern Athletic Conference foe St. John.
The two teams met on Oct. 9 in Vienna. St. John snapped a three-game Mathews winning streak with a 28-6 victory in the regular season meeting.
The regional finals will take place at neutral sites on Nov. 20. The state championships will be Dec. 3-5 at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton.