OHIO — Ohio’s high school football regular season came to a close on Friday, but due to OHSAA’s expanded playoff format, only a handful of teams had their season come to an end.
On Sunday, the OHSAA released the brackets for the football playoffs. Sixteen teams from each region qualified.
All games in Divisions I, II, III and IV will be held Friday at 7 p.m. Divisions V, VI and VII will have their playoff games Saturday at 7 p.m.
The result of the expanded format meant many teams did not need a winning record to qualify for the playoffs. For instance, in Region 4, area powerhouse Moeller will take on winless Oak Hills this weekend.
For the first two weeks of the playoffs, the higher seed will host. Starting in Week 3 of the playoffs, neutral sites will be utilized.
All seven defending state champions are among those with home first-round matchups.
In Division I, Cincinnati St. Xavier earned the No. 2 seed in Region 4 and will host Hamilton. 2020 Division II champion took the No. 3 seed in Region 5 and will host Eastlake North. Last year’s Division III champion finished 10-0 and the No. 1 seed in Region 9. Chardon will host Akron East.
Van Wert, last year’s Division IV titleholder, earned the No. 3 seed in Region 14 and will welcome Rossford. Kirtland finished 9-0 and the 2020 Division V champion will face Harrison Central. In Division VI, last year’s state champion Coldwater earned the No. 4 seed and will face Delphos Jefferson. In Division VII, New Bremen earned the No. 7 seed and will face No. 10 seed Lockland.
Overall, 30 teams across the state finished with undefeated seasons.
The state championship games will be held in Canton Dec. 2-4.
Playoff brackets and information is available on the OHSAA website.
