Ohio high school football playoffs Division I roundup: St. Ignatius, Olentangy Liberty, Springfield among winners in first round (10/27/2023)
The Ohio High School Athletic Association playoffs began Friday night with 448 teams vying for a state championship across seven divisions, with 64 teams in each divisions broken into 16 teams per region.
In Division I, the 15 of the 16 top four seeds - St. Edward, Cleveland Heights, Wadsworth, Canton McKinley, Olentangy, Olentangy Berlin, Centerville, Gahanna Lincoln, Hilliard Bradley, Pickerington North, Upper Arlington, Milford, Princeton, Lakota West and St. Xavier all advanced to the next round with home wins and will host again in the second round.
Meanwhile, No. 14 Olentangy Liberty defeated No. 3 Findlay in Division I, Region 2.
Division I first round scoreboard
First round games of note:
St. Ignatius 10, Mentor 7
The No. 12 seed in Region 1, St. Ignatius found a way to get its third win of the season - and its second against Mentor - to advance to the next round.
The Wildcats scored the first 10 points of the game on a 34-yard field goal by Tommy Kilbane to end the second quarter and a 17-yard touchdown pass from Joshua Papesh to Cody Haddad late in the third quarter.
Mentor struck on a 46-yard touchdown with just under five minutes left.
One of the plays that changed the outcome was a blocked field goal by the St. Ignatius special teams in the third quarter.
Olentangy Liberty 36, Findlay 35
Trailing by seven and the game down to its final play, Liberty scored a touchdown to cut its deficit to one. After lining up for the game-tying PAT, Findlay called a timeout and Liberty sent its offense back on the field.
Quarterback Andrew Leonard took the shout gun snap and handed it to running back Jake Struck, who ran to his left and flipped it to wide receiver Tobias George. He then ran to the right and found Leonard who had slipped out of the backfield and threw it to him at the one, where Leonard finished off the play for two points and the win.
Springfield 38, Wayne 14
The two-time defending Division I runners-up never trailed in the game, as the Wildcats took a 21-0 lead midway through the second quarter on a pair of touchdown passes by Brent Upshaw and a touchdown run by Deontre Long.
Wayne quarterback Tyrell Lewis scored a pair of rushing touchdowns to cut the lead to 21-7, but Aaron Scott scored from one yard out and Jayvin Norman scored from 25 yards out to get the lead back to 21.
Division I playoff brackets:
Division I, Region 1
Division I, Region 2
Division I, Region 3
Division I, Region 4
>>Division I playoff brackets, predictions, upset alerts<<
>>Statewide playoff brackets<<
-- Ryan Isley | ryan@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveoh
(Feature photo of St. Edward football taking the field by Jeff Harwell)
