Depending on who you ask, the bye week was either a blessing or a curse.
The top four teams in each region entered postseason play last Friday after sitting out the opening round of the Ohio high school football playoffs with a bye in the new 12-team regional format. Those teams were a combined 85-27 in the regional quarterfinals.
Each regional bracket was set up like the college football playoff’s 12-team bracket. The No. 1 seed faced the winner of the 8-9 game, while the No. 2 seed faced the winner of the 7-10 game, the No. 3 seed played the winner of the 6-11 game and the No. 4 seed played the winner of the 5-12 game.
No. 1 seeds were 26-2 last weekend, while No. 2 seeds were 24-4. No. 3 seeds were 18-10, and No. 4 seeds were 17-11.
There’s only one No. 12 seed still alive. Fort Recovery beat No. 5 Cincinnati College Prep in the opening round and throttled No. 4 Beaver Eastern in the Division VII, Region 28 quarterfinals.
Three No. 11 seeds, including Danville in Region 27, are still hanging around. The Blue Devils will travel to No. 2 Waterford on Friday.
When the Ohio High School Athletic Association announced the format change in June, one of the things that concerned coaches was navigating a bye week.
How do you keep your team sharp?
What do you do for a week when you don’t know who your next opponent will be?
High school athletes — and coaches — are creatures of habit. Changing the routine ahead of the playoff opener almost certainly caused some sleepless nights.
For this season, at least, the rest vs. rust debate fell in favor of rest.
Competitive Balance
One of the reasons for the playoff format change was the number of lopsided games in the early rounds.
There were still plenty of running-clock games last weekend.
Of the 112 games played across all seven divisions, 50 ended with a running clock (a 30-plus point lead in the second half).
Not surprisingly, a majority of those games involved No. 1 seeds (18 of 28, or 64%). The scoring differential in games involving top seeds was 1,057-274 or about 28 points per game.
Meanwhile, only eight games involving No. 4 seeds ended with a running clock and four of those games were won by the lower seed.
Home Cooking
Five of north central Ohio’s 12 playoff-qualifying teams earned first-round byes and opened the postseason at home last week. Four of them won.
Shelby, Galion, Centerburg and Hillsdale will all host regional semifinal games Friday before games shift to neutral sites for the regional finals.
Rematch?
Unbeaten Shelby, the top seed in Region 14, was pushed only once during the regular season. The Whippets beat Galion 45-34 in Week 4.
The Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference rivals could meet in the regional final next week.
Shelby hosts No. 4 Lima Bath on Friday. Second-seeded Galion (10-1) welcomes No. 6 Sandusky Perkins to town.
While regional final host sites won’t be announced until Sunday, Mansfield’s Arlin Field seems like a logical choice.
Conference Comparison
The Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference was the only area lague to navigate the regional quarterfinals unscathed as both Shelby and Galion advanced.
Three of the Wayne County Athletic League’s four playoff qualifiers are still alive. Hillsdale, Smithville and Dalton all won last week. Norwayne fell.
Two Knox Morrow Athletic Conference schools are still alive. Top-seeded Centerbrug advanced, as did Danville. The Blue Devils have won two road games thus far.
The Northern 10 was 2-2 last weekend. Colonel Crawford and Carey advanced, while Seneca East and Mohawk fell.
Colonel Crawford is at Centerburg on Friday.
The Firelands Conference was 1-1 as Monroeville advanced, but Western Reserve fell.
Only one Licking County League team survived the regional quarterfinal round. Licking Valley advanced, while Granville and Johnstown were both eliminated.
