OHIO — Whether it was the Raiders and Steelers in the 1970s, the Packers and 49ers in the 1990s, or the Bengals and Chiefs the past few years, some football teams are predestined to frequently meet in the playoffs.
In Region 1 of the Ohio High School Athletic Association playoffs, those teams are St. Ignatius (2-8) and Mentor (7-3), who get reacquainted in the OHSAA Game of the Week in Northeast Ohio.
For the sixth time in the last 13 years, those two will square off in the postseason, continuing a series that features meetings each year in the regular season (except for pandemic-affected 2020) since 2005.
That includes week two this season, a 16-14 Wildcats win that was the OHSAA Game of the Week. The Cardinals hope that history repeats itself since all five previous instances of regular season and playoff games in the same year (2011, 2012, 2013, 2017, 2021) the schools split the meetings.
In six all-time postseason contents, the series is also split at 3-3, while St. Ignatius holds a modest 15-12 advantage in the total series. However, since 2003, it’s dead even at 12-12.
In his first season replacing the legendary Chuck Kyle, Ryan Franzinger’s team played its usual challenging schedule, falling to Hoban, Toledo Central Catholic, St. Edward, Moeller and St. Edward. The Wildcats’ other win (Football North from Canada) doesn’t count in the OHSAA computer points, where St. Ignatius wound up 12th.
Fifth-seeded Mentor went 2-3 over the first half of the schedule, but have won five straight since then, scoring 40-plus points in all five of those games, while the defense pitched three shutouts.
For a second straight year in Central Ohio, Grove City (5-5) meets Hilliard Davidson (5-5) in a first round Region 3 contest.
The Wildcats were convincing winners (48-21) against the Greyhounds in week two of the regular season. A year ago, it was Davidson sweeping both meetings, claiming a 17-7 playoff triumph following a 7-3 regular season win. The Wildcats have won the last 10 meetings with Grove City’s most recent favorable outcome in 2014. All-time, Davidson holds a 46-32 lead in a series that dates back to 1940.
The Wildcats (eighth in Region 3) roared out of the gates this year, starting 4-0 and averaging 39 points a game. Since then, Davidson has lost five of six, scoring just over 11 points a contest.
It was a similar story in Grove City (ninth in Region 3), where the ‘Dawgs started 4-1, and are 1-4 since. The Greyhounds have scored 49 or more points in half their games. The problem is allowing 48 more three times, including earlier in the year, to Davidson.
In Southwest Ohio, Springfield captured back-to-back Region 2 championships the last two years, ultimately reaching the Division I State Championship (lost both times to St. Edward). The Wildcats (5-5) were 2-4 through six weeks, including a Greater Western Ohio Conference loss to Wayne (27-22) in week four.
The Warriors (7-3) won improbably in that first meeting. Trailing 21-12 with less than a minute left, Springfield inserted Ohio State commit Aaron Scott at quarterback, who threw a 72-yard touchdown pass to Jayvin Norman with 26 seconds left. The two-point conversion was good, and the Wildcats led 22-21.
However, on the ensuing kickoff, the Warriors’ Jussiah Williams-West ran it back for an 83-yard touchdown with 14 seconds left, providing the winning margin. Over the course of the season, the Warriors have returned five kickoffs for touchdowns, two by Williams-West and three from Jamier Averette-Brown.
It was fifth-seeded Wayne’s first win in the series since 2017, snapping a six-game win streak for Springfield (12th in the region), including a 2020 playoff contest.
The all-time series favors the Warriors (10-7) since the Springfield schools (North and South) merged into one in 2008.
All three OHSAA Games of the Week begin at 7 p.m. live on Spectrum News 1 and the Spectrum News App.
Spectrum News 1 will broadcast 15 games on www.SpectrumNews1.com, with the following matchups:
Massillon Jackson vs. Berea-Midpark
Lancaster vs. Westerville North
Miami Trace vs. Hamilton Township
Previous games from the season are also available on demand through our website.
Stay with Spectrum News 1 and the Spectrum News App throughout the playoffs for live games, culminating in the state championships Nov. 30-Dec. 2 at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton.