COLUMBUS — Following the announcement Saturday of the upcoming football regional final pairings and game sites, the Ohio High School Athletic Association published the weekly football notes packet on Sunday, Nov. 12. The football regional finals kick off at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 17. After those games on Friday, the OHSAA will announce how the regional champions will be paired in the state semifinals on Friday, Nov. 24.

Eight of the regional championship games will pit the No. 1 vs. No. 2 seeds (Regions 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 13, 18 and 25). There are 20 undefeated teams still alive in the playoffs but only two regional finals include undefeated teams squaring off against each other. Those two match-ups are in Division IV, Region 13 (Steubenville vs. Perry) and Division VI, Region 21 (Rootstown vs. Kirtland).

Of the 18 teams that won their final regular season game to jump into the top eight of their region and qualify for the playoffs, two have advanced to the third round. The two teams that have advanced are Bellevue (Division IV, Region 14) and Jeromesville Hillsdale (Division VI, Region 22).

Of the four teams that qualified for the playoffs for the first time this year, only one – Middletown Madison (Division V, Region 20) has advanced to the third round. Four other schools won their first ever playoff game earlier this month, including Hilliard Bradley (Division I, Region 3), Barberton (Division II, Region 5), East Canton (Division VII, Region 25) and Portsmouth Sciotoville (Division VII, Region 27).

Regional finalists by seed

The following seeds have advanced to the regional finals

No. 1 seed – 19; No. 2 seed – 13; No. 3 seed – 10; No. 4 seed – 3; No. 5 seed – 6; No. 6 seed – 3 (Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, Jeromesville Hillsdale, Hannibal River); No. 7 seed – 2 (Dayton Chaminade Julienne, Duncan Falls Philo); No. 8 seed – 0

Regional Final Rematches

REGION 1: Regular season rematch; Cleveland St. Ignatius defeated Mentor 41-31 in week two.

REGION 3: Ohio Capital Conference (Ohio Division) regular season rematch; Pickerington Central defeated Pickerington North 24-21 in week eight.

REGION 4: Regular season rematch; Cincinnati St. Xavier outlasted Cincinnati Colerain 20-17 (OT) in week two.

REGION 6: Southwestern Conference regular season rematch; Avon topped Olmsted Falls 31-17 in week two.

REGION 8: Regular season rematch; Cincinnati Winton Woods edged Cincinnati La Salle 18-15 in week five.

REGION 14: Northern Ohio League regular season rematch; Shelby shutout Bellevue 46-0 in week four.

REGION 15: Muskingum Valley League regular season rematch; Duncan Falls Philo beat New Concord John Glenn 28-17 in week four.

REGION 24: Midwest Athletic Conference regular season rematch; Maria Stein Marion Local squeaked by Coldwater 13-7 in week three.

REGION 28: Midwest Athletic Conference regular season rematch; Minster won easily over Delphos St. John’s 41-14 in week three.

The Division VI, Region 24 final will be played between Midwest Athletic Conference schools and perennial state powers Maria Stein Marion Local and Coldwater. These two programs have combined for 140 playoff wins and 15 state championships all-time with 11 of those titles coming since 2007. Both schools have made nine final four appearances in the last 10 years with Marion Local missing in 2010 and Coldwater missing in 2008.

Also from the MAC, Minster and Delphos St. John’s will meet in the Division VII, Region 28 final. The two schools have combined for 81 playoff wins and eight state championships all-time.

BEST PLAYOFF WINNING PERCENTAGE (updated Nov. 12, 2017; minimum 50 playoff games)

1. Maria Stein Marion Local, 69-10, .873

2. Delphos St. John’s, 54-11, .831

3. Cleveland St. Ignatius, 72-16, .818

4. Coldwater, 71-16, .816

Proving the Pollsters

Thirty-five of the 70 teams that appeared in the final Associated Press (AP) poll are still alive in the playoffs.

All seven teams that won poll championships are still playing – Cleveland St. Ignatius (DI), Avon (DII), Trotwood-Madison (DIII), Steubenville (DIV), Pemberville Eastwood (DV), Maria Stein Marion Local (DVI) and Norwalk St. Paul (DVII).

All 70 teams that appeared in the final AP poll earned a playoff berth. Those 70 teams went 59-11 in the first round of the playoffs. Of those 59 wins, 57 were home games for the ranked team, while two ranked teams won on the road in the first round – Girard (DIV) and West Jefferson (DV).

Last year, the only team to be ranked No. 1 in the final poll and go on to win a state championship was Maria Stein Marion Local (DVI).

Regional finals pairings; Games at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 17

Division I

Region 1: 1. Cleveland St. Ignatius (11-1) vs. 3. Mentor (11-1) at Bedford Bearcat Stadium

Region 2: 1. Tol. Whitmer (12-0) vs. 2. Powell Olentangy Liberty (10-2) at Findlay Donnell Stadium

Region 3: 5. Pickerington North (10-2) vs. 3. Pickerington Central (11-1) at Columbus St. Francis DeSales Alumni Stadium

Region 4: 1. Cincinnati St. Xavier (11-1) vs. 2. Cincinnati Colerain (10-2) at Mason Dwire Field at Atrium Stadium

Division II

Region 5: 1. Akron Archbishop Hoban (11-1) vs. 2. Barberton (12-0) at Green Memorial Stadium

Region 6: 1. Avon (12-0) vs. 3. Olmsted Falls (11-1) at North Ridgeville Ranger Stadium

Region 7: 5. New Albany (8-4) vs. 2. Massillon Washington (9-3) at Mansfield Senior Arlin Field

Region 8: 1. Cincinnati La Salle (10-2) vs. 2. Cincinnati Winton Woods (11-1) at Cincinnati Withrow Angus King Stadium

Division III

Region 9: 1. Canfield (12-0) vs. 6. Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary (9-3) at Salem Reilly Stadium

Region 10: 1. Toledo Central Catholic (10-2) vs. 2. Bay Village Bay (12-0) at Sandusky Strobel Field, Cedar Point Stadium

Region 11: 5. Dresden Tri-Valley (11-1) vs. 3. Columbus Bishop Hartley (11-1) at Newark Paul “Hoss” Starr Stadium at White Field

Region 12: 1. Trotwood-Madison (12-0) vs. 7. Dayton Chaminade Julienne (9-3) at Riverside Stebbins Edmundson Stadium

Division IV

Region 13: 1. Steubenville (12-0) vs. 2. Perry (12-0) at Niles McKinley Bo Rein Stadium

Region 14: 5. Bellevue (9-3) vs. 2. Shelby (12-0) at Ashland Community Stadium; Bellevue ended the Clear Fork Colts’ perfect season last Friday, Nov. 10 at Arlin Field in Mansfield by winning 21-13 to create a rematch with the undefeated Shelby Whippets.

Region 15: 5. New Concord John Glenn (10-2) vs. 7. Duncan Falls Philo (9-3) at Zanesville Sulsberger Stadium –

Region 16: 4. Clarksville Clinton-Massie (11-1) vs. 2. Cincinnati Wyoming (12-0) at Lakota West Firebird Field

Division V

Region 17: 1. Canfield South Range (12-0) vs. 3. Sullivan Black River (11-1) at Canal Fulton Northwest Dr. Martin Smilek Stadium/Jim Schalmo Field

Region 18: 1. Pemberville Eastwood (12-0) vs. 2. Marion Pleasant (10-1) at Lima Senior Spartan Stadium

Region 19: 1. Wheelersburg (12-0) vs. 3. Johnstown-Monroe (10-2) at Chillicothe Herrnstein Stadium

Region 20: 5. West Jefferson (11-0) vs. 2. Middletown Madison (10-2) at Beavercreek Frank Zink Field at Miami Valley Hospital Stadium

Division VI

Region 21: 1. Rootstown (12-0) vs. 3. Kirtland (12-0) at Solon Stewart Field

Region 22: 1. Findlay Liberty-Benton (11-1) vs. 6. Jeromesville Hillsdale (9-3) at Tiffin Frost-Kalnow Stadium

Region 23: 1. Nelsonville-York (12-0) vs. 3. Coal Grove Dawson-Bryant (11-1) at Jackson Holzer Field at Alumni Stadium

Region 24: 4. Coldwater (9-3) vs. 2. Maria Stein Marion Local (12-0) at Sidney Memorial Stadium

Division VII

Region 25: 1. Dalton (12-0) vs. 2. Cuyahoga Heights (10-1) at North Canton Hoover Memorial Stadium

Region 26: 1. Norwalk St. Paul (12-0) vs. 3. Pandora-Gilboa (10-2) at Clyde Robert J. Bishop Jr. Stadium

Region 27: 1. Danville (11-1) vs. 6. Hannibal River (8-4) at Zanesville Maysville Athletic Complex

Region 28: 4. Minster (8-4) vs. 3. Delphos St. John’s (8-4) at Wapakoneta Harmon Field