JEROMESVILLE — You will not catch Trevor Cline looking ahead in the rarified air of the Division VII football elite.
The Hillsdale coach, who led his team to the 2024 state championship game, has his 11-1 Falcons poised to take on Danville (8-5) in the Region 27 title game on Friday at Ridgewood Generals Stadium at 7 p.m. in West Lafayette.
Neutral site playoff locations around the state were announced on Sunday by the Ohio High School Athletic Association.
Despite the matchup with an opponent that went just .500 during the regular season, Cline knows Hillsdale has a war on its hands.
Seeded next-to-last among the 12 playoff teams in Region 27, Danville boarded the bus three Fridays in a row to win postseason games at sixth-seeded Steubenville Catholic Central (54-0), third-seeded Lancaster Fisher Catholic (59-8) and second-seeded Waterford (19-14).
The game on Friday is also the third time the two teams have met in the playoffs in the last four years, splitting the games in classic form.
It’s a rematch of the 2024 state semifinals when the Falcons rallied from a 22-12 halftime deficit to defeat Danville, 25-22, to advance and to the championship game against Maria Stein Marion Local.
The two also tangled in the second round in 2022, won by Danville, 42-41.
“It’s gonna be an awesome atmosphere,” Cline said. “I know the previous two (playoff meetings) have been great atmospheres and ones that our kids have talked about how they loved playing in that environment.”
The game between two north central Ohio small-school powers is one of four across the state among blue bloods on Friday:
— Marion Local (12-0) has won a state record 76 games in a row. The Flyers play St. Henry (11-1) on Friday in the Region 28 title game, a rematch of the Week Three game between the old Midwest Athletic Conference foes. Marion Local won that game, 21-14, the only blemish on the Redskins’ record.
— Leipsic (11-1) emerged from the historic Putnam County League and will battle Columbus Grove (9-3), a team that handed Lima Central Catholic (10-2) its only two losses this season. Those two meet in the Region 26 title game on Friday.
— Four-time state champion Mogadore (11-1) takes on unbeaten McDonald (12-0) in the Region 25 championship game. A three-time state champion, McDonald has won more than 600 games in its own storied history.
Coach Matt Bloom, who led Danville to 11-3 and 13-1 records in his first two years at the helm, said after the win at Waterford in southern Ohio his team doesn’t care where it plays.
“Oh no, we’ll play in the parking lot. We’ll play in the Walmart parking lot,” Blum said after his team won in a stadium behind the Waterford Elementary School.
Blum said this year’s team has learned by doing during a season that included losses against three playoff teams.
“We weren’t making enough plays during the regular season and now we’re starting to make those plays,” Blum said.
Hillsdale has been making plays all season. The Falcons are led by the most successful senior class in the history of the program, already posting 40 wins in four seasons.
The Falcons have scored more than 40 points in a game seven times this season, outscoring two playoff opponents by a combined score of 111-13 in this postseason.
Senior running back Owen Sloan had 205 yards and five TDs against Symmes Valley on Friday night on just 12 carries in a 48-7 win. Four of those scores came in just the first half.
The senior has cleared a program-record 4,600 rushing yards for his career and has over 1,600 in each of the last two seasons. Sloan also eclipsed 400 career points Friday night, and even surpassed 200 career tackles on defense in the win.
OHSAA Football Regional Final Playoff Pairings
Pairings shown with regional seed. All games on Friday, November 21, at 7 p.m.
Division I
Region 1
No. 1 Lakewood St. Edward (10-2) vs. No. 2 Mentor (12-0) at Parma Byers Field at Robert Boulton Stadium
Region 2
No. 1 Middletown (10-2) vs. No. 6 Huber Heights Wayne (9-4) at Trotwood-Madison High School Attorney Michael L. Wright SportsPlex
Region 3
No. 1 Lewis Center Olentangy Orange (12-0) vs. No. 2 Pickerington Central (11-1) at Columbus Historic Crew Stadium
Region 4
No. 1 Cincinnati Elder (12-0) vs. No. 3 Cincinnati St. Xavier (9-2) at Mason High School Tri-Health/Beacon Stadium
Division II
Region 5
No. 1 Akron Archbishop Hoban (10-1) vs. No. 2 Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit (10-1) at Bedford High School Bearcat Stadium
Region 6
No. 1 Medina Highland (12-0) vs. No. 3 Avon (11-1) at Brunswick High School Brunswick Auto Mart Stadium
Region 7
No. 1 Sunbury Big Walnut (11-1) vs. No. 3 Massillon Washington (9-3) at Zanesville High School Sulsberger Stadium
Region 8
No. 1 Cincinnati Anderson (12-0) vs. No. 3 Trotwood-Madison (8-3) at West Chester Lakota West High School Firebird Stadium
Division III
Region 9
No. 2 Cuyahoga Falls CVCA (11-0) vs. No. 4 Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph (10-1) at Twinsburg High School Tiger Stadium
Region 10
No. 5 Rocky River (11-2) vs. No. 6 Toledo Central Catholic (9-4) at Clyde High School Robert J. Bishop Jr. Stadium
Region 11
No. 1 Columbus Bishop Watterson (11-0) vs. No. 3 Steubenville (9-2) at Newark High School White Field
Region 12
No. 1 London (12-0) vs. No. 2 Tipp City Tippecanoe (12-0) at Fairborn High School Skyhawk Stadium
Division IV
Region 13
No. 1 Perry (10-2) vs. No. 2 Cleveland Glenville (9-3) at Ravenna High School Portage Community Bank Stadium/Harry Gilchrist Field
Region 14
No. 1 Shelby (12-0) vs. No. 2 Galion (11-1) at Mansfield Arlin Field
Region 15
No. 1 New Lexington (11-1) vs. No. 2 Gnadenhutten Indian Valley (11-0) at Coshocton High School Stewart Field
Region 16
No. 1 Cincinnati Indian Hill (12-0) vs. No. 2 Germantown Valley View (11-1) at Fairfield High School Alumni Stadium
Division V
Region 17
No. 1 Youngstown Cardinal Mooney (9-2) vs. No. 2 Girard (12-0) at Canfield South Range High School Rominger Athletic Complex
Region 18
No. 1 Liberty Center (12-0) vs. No. 3 Genoa Area (11-1) at Fostoria High School Memorial Stadium
Region 19
No. 1 Wheelersburg (12-0) vs. No. 3 Nelsonville-York (12-0) at Hamilton Township High School Alumni Stadium
Region 20
No. 2 Lewistown Indian Lake (10-2) vs. No. 8 Richwood North Union (9-4) at Marysville High School IMPACT Stadium
Division VI
Region 21
No. 1 Kirtland (12-0) vs. No. 7 Sugarcreek Garaway (10-2) at Louisville High School Leopard Stadium
Region 22
No. 2 Bascom Hopewell-Loudon (11-1) vs. No. 9 Carey (9-4) at Findlay Donnell Stadium
Region 23
No. 3 West Jefferson (11-1) vs. No. 5 North Robinson Colonel Crawford (12-1) at Marengo Highland High School Covrett Stadium Fishburn Family Field
Region 24
No. 5 Coldwater (9-4) vs. No. 6 Anna (10-3) at Piqua High School Alexander Stadium
Division VII
Region 25
No. 1 McDonald (12-0) vs. No. 3 Mogadore (11-1) at Macedonia Nordonia High School Boliantz Stadium
Region 26
No. 3 Leipsic (11-1) vs. No. 4 Columbus Grove (9-3) at Lima Shawnee High School Shawnee Stadium
Region 27
No. 1 Jeromesville Hillsdale (11-1) vs. No. 11 Danville (8-5) at West Lafayette Ridgewood High School Generals Stadium
Region 28
No. 1 Maria Stein Marion Local (12-0) vs. No. 2 St. Henry (11-1) at Wapakoneta High School Mercy Health VFW Post 8445 Field