Article published November 09, 2009
Rivalries could get fresh spark: Knights-Irish, Comets-Eagles matchups loom
Playoff matchups
Friday
&149; St. Francis (10-1) vs. Avon Lake (8-3)
&149; Central Catholic (9-2) vs. Maple Heights (9-2)
&149; Patrick Henry (11-0) vs. Jeromesville Hillsdale (9-2)
&149; Napoleon (9-2) vs. Columbus Bishop Watterson (8-3)
Saturday
&149; Genoa (11-0) vs. Orrville (8-3)
&149; Eastwood (9-2) vs. Ottawa-Glandorf (9-2)
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By STEVE JUNGA
BLADE SPORTS WRITER
City League rivals St. Francis de Sales and Central Catholic and Suburban Lakes League foes Genoa and Eastwood remain on collision courses for rematches, and Henry County powers Napoleon and Patrick Henry are also still alive after the first round of the Ohio high school football playoffs.
Fifth-ranked St. Francis (10-1) and 12th-ranked Central (9-2) each took 35-7 victories in Division II, Region 6 quarterfinals on Friday night over West Shore Conference co-champions North Ridgeville and Rocky River, respectively.
Those wins moved the Knights of St. Francis coach Dick Cromwell and the Fighting Irish of coach Greg Dempsey a step closer to an auxiliary installment of their regular-season Irish Knight rivalry.
To make that happen, top-seeded St. Francis will have to beat No. 5 seed Avon Lake (8-3) this Friday at Fremont's Harmon Stadium, and No. 2 seed Central will have to top No. 6 seed Maple Heights (9-2) Friday at Huron's Memorial Stadium.
Perennial D-II state power Avon Lake advanced with a 56-35 first-round road win over Northern Lakes League co-champion Maumee (9-2) last Friday, and Maple Heights moved forward with a 36-26 win at Rogers (9-2) on Friday.
The juggernaut, fourth-ranked Genoa Comets (11-0) of third-year coach Mike Vicars continued their season-long domination in a D-IV first-round game last Saturday, crushing visiting Milan Edison 62-7 to earn a Region 14 semifinal matchup this Saturday against unranked Orrville (8-3) at Ashland Community Stadium.The Comets, who have seven shutouts in 11 games, have outscored their opposition 599-31. Genoa has won 29 straight regular-season games, three straight SLL titles (20-0 record), and made the school's first three playoff appearances under Vicars. The Comets finished 13-1 last season with a tough 42-34 state semifinal loss to eventual D-IV champion Kettering Alter.
Coach Jerry Rutherford's unranked Eastwood Eagles (9-2) hammered seventh-ranked and previously unbeaten Northern Ohio League champion Galion 35-6 on Saturday to set up a Region 14 semifinal against Ottawa-Glandorf (9-2) this Saturday at Findlay's Donnell Stadium. The Eagles' lone losses this season came against SLL rival Genoa (54-11) and to powerhouse nonleague foe Patrick Henry (35-0).
Coach Bill Inselmann's Patrick Henry Patriots (11-0), Ohio's top-ranked Division V team, won their eighth straight Northwest Ohio Athletic League championship this year. They now seek to match their 15-0 state championship season of 2005.
The Pats got off on the right foot with a 41-14 win over visiting Toledo Area Athletic Conference champion Northwood last Friday, setting up a Region 18 semifinal against Jeromesville Hillsdale (9-2) at Tiffin's Frost-Kalnow Stadium this Friday.
Napoleon (9-2) rebounded from a 20-17 Week-10 loss to Findlay by opening with a 28-14 first-round home playoff win in Division III against 2008 state runner-up Columbus Eastmoor Academy.
That win sent second-year coach Tory Strock's ninth-ranked Wildcats to a Region 10 semifinal clash against eighth-ranked Columbus Bishop Watterson (8-3) this Friday at Findlay's Donnell Stadium. Napoleon's loss to Findlay created a three-way Greater Buckeye Conference title tie between those two teams and Sandusky.
All Friday playoff games start at 7:30 p.m. Eastwood plays at 4 p.m. and Genoa at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Central, which has won six straight times against St. Francis, denied the Knights a shot at their first City football championship since 2004 by blanking the visiting Knights 10-0 on Oct. 9. The Irish then lost their chance at a fifth consecutive City crown the following week in a 14-7 loss to eventual champion Whitmer.
Whitmer (9-2) made the Division I playoffs, but key injuries to quarterback Joe Missler and linebacker Shane Brown hindered the top-seeded Panthers' chances in a 34-13 first-round Region 2 loss to visiting No. 8 seed Canton McKinley Saturday night.
St. Francis and Central have provided two of this area's three D-II state champions during this decade.
Cromwell's Knights (13-1) captured the D-II title in 2001, Dempsey's Irish (14-1) won it in 2005, and coach Jim Mayzes' Southview Cougars (15-0) took the state championship last year.
NLL co-champion Southview, which has since moved up to Division I, did not qualify for the postseason this year. St. Francis also won a D-I state title under Cromwell in 1984 and was D-II state runner-up in 1982. Before their wins on Friday, Central had lost three straight first-round playoff games after its 2005 championship, and St. Francis' last playoff win came in the Region 6 finals in 2002. The Knights lost to eventual champion Dayton Chaminade-Julienne in the 2002 state semifinals, dropped first-round games in 2003 and 2004, and missed the playoffs the last four years.
Contact Steve Junga at:
sjunga@theblade.com
or 419-724-6461.
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