Ohio high school football playoffs Division V roundup: Marengo Highland, Portsmouth, Preble Shawnee among winners in first round (10/27/2023)

The first round of the OHSAA football playoffs kicked off on Friday; here are the results in Division V

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 V, 15 of the 16 top four seeds - Perry, South Range, Norwayne, Harrison Central, Liberty Center, Milan Edison, Archbold, Oak Harbor, Ironton,  Barnesville, Harvest Prep, Valley View, Wayneville, Brookville and Zane Trace all advanced to the next round with home wins and will host again in the second round.

Meanwhile, No. 15 Portsmouth defeated No. 2 Fairland in Region 19.

Division V first round scoreboard

First round games of note:

Marengo Highland 21, Liberty-Benton 17

Highland, the No. 12 seed in Region 18, scored on an 82-yard screen pass with ess than two minutes left to take a 21-17 lead.

And then the Highland defense did its part as Liberty-Benton had a chance to take the lead in the final seconds but the Scots held up to secure the win.

Portsmouth 50, Fairland 38 

Chase Heiland scored four ruching touchdowns and Camron Williams added three three scores on the ground as Portsmouth, the No. 15 seed in Region 19, upset second-seeded Fairland.

Fairland led 38-37 after three quarters, but Heiland scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to help the Trojans land the upset.

Portsmouth outscored Fairland 32-6 in the second half. 

Preble Shawnee 28, Milton-Union 17

Preble Shawnee, the No. 11 seed in Region 20, scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter after trailing 17-14 through three quarters.

Quarterback Issac Blankenship found Brody Morton for a 16-yard touchdown pass with 9:11 left in the fourth quarter to take the lead and then Lane Lovely scored on a 19-yard run with 2:15 left.

Division V playoff brackets:

Division V, Region 17

Division V, Region 18

Division V, Region 19

Division V, Region 20

>>Division V playoff brackets, predictions, upset alerts<<

>>Statewide playoff brackets<<

-- Ryan Isley | ryan@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveoh

(Feature photo: South Range players celebrate winning the 2022 Division V state championship on Friday, December 2, 2022. Photo credit: Ryan Isley)