MANSFIELD — It’s official.
Six out of the nine Richland County schools that have football teams will reach Week 11, as per the OHSSAA.
In Division III, Region 10, the Lexington Minutemen is the 5-5 team and is the number 12 seed and will play at the number 5 Maumee. The Panthers have played 10 matches this season with only 2 losses including 10-0 Oak Harbor and 9-1 Eastwood on consecutive weeks in Weeks 4 and 5. Maumee this year scored 39.8 points per game and allowed only 18.2. Lexington heads into the playoffs scoring 20.3 points and allowing 19.9 points per game.
Division IV Region 14 will featuring a Richland County rematch as Ontnerio now seeded No. 3 with a 9–1 records goes up against Clear Fork the Dogs with a 4-6 record in round two of the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference. In the first match up, the Warriors triumphed 31-14 but Clear Fork made it close in the final stages of the playoffs when the Colts developed a 17-14 Ontario lead at the end of the third quarter. This season the Warriors scored in average 35.6 points per game and allowing 16.2 points per game. Clear Fork is playing much better of late winning three of their last four by a combined 96-64. Clear Fork opened the season at 1-5 before surging toward the end of the year and into the playoffs. Indianapolis Colts scores an average of 18.3 points in a game and concedes 24.2 points on average.
The Shelby Whippets had the second-best record of 10-0, and the fifteen seeded team is Elida with a record of 3-7. Shelby recently finished their sixth 10-0 season and won an undefeated MOAC championship to give the school its 30 th football league championship. The Whippets score 37.6 points on average for a game and their opponents score 12.8 points on average. Elida made it to the playoffs only by the skin of its teeth and had to win its Week 10 game against Van Wert to make the playoffs. The Bulldogs’s only wins this year include beating 4-6 Toledo Rogers 40-0, Celina 17-14 and Van Wert 4-6. Elida is averaging 21.4 points per game, the second best in the Blanchard Valley Conference, and has been shut out three times. It is allowing 31.8.
Division VI Region 22 saw the Crestview Cougars, who sit at 5-5, beat Mapleton in week 10 to get a playoff spot as the 14th seed. They will go to No.3 Toledo Ottawa Hills for first round contest. Crestview started the year on the wrong side of the win loss column at 0-4 before finishing the year with a 5-1 record. Through the season Crestview scored 27.3 points per team and allowing 18.6 points per game with forty-four of those points being scored in the final six weeks of the season. Ottawa Hills which finished the season at 8-1 scored an average 46.11 points while conceding 11.22 points.
Lastly, in Division VII, Region 25, the Lucas Cubs (5-5) ranked 14th, will head to Malvern (9-1), a third seed in the first round of the playoffs. The Cubs had 25.85 points for and 19.05 against while Malvern had 34.4points for and 16.8 against and comes to the playoffs with back to back shutouts.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association will announce its official playoff matchups over the weekend but these appear to be the pairings for Week 11. All of the first round matches will be played at the higher seed and all games will commence at 7:00 p.m. on Friday November 1, 2013.
