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Week 12 lineup set
Four winners earn games in regional semifinals
By Steve Ruman
For only four area high schools, the second Friday of November means a second-round playoff game.
Canfield, Girard, Cardinal Mooney and South Range logged first-round playoff victories. As a result, the four teams will play in the regional semifinals of their respective divisions.
The tournament began with a record-tying 18 area participants. However, an area record was established over the weekend when 14 of those teams lost opening-round games.
Area teams went 1-11 in games not involving a pair of Mahoning Valley schools playing each other. Canfield was the lone exception.
The Cardinals (11-0) defeated Aurora 23-0 and now will face Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin (9-2). The Division III, Region 9 semifinal will take place at Warren’s Mollenkopf Stadium.
ND-CL opened its playoff journey with a 38-14 win over Alliance.
This will mark the first meeting between the Cardinals and Lions.
“Looking at [ND-CL] on film, the first thing that jumps out is their speed, there is going to be a lot of speed on the field Friday night,” Canfield coach Mike Pavlansky said Sunday. “This team has playoff experience, and it is extremely well-coached.
“Their losses were to Hoban (10-1) and Cleveland Benedictine (6-5),” Pavlansky said. “They played a challenging schedule.”
Pavlansky was pleased with the way his own team performed against Aurora. Canfield built a 20-0 halftime advantage against the Greenmen, and was never seriously challenged.
“In the first half, we played as well as we’ve played all year,” Pavlansky said. “Offense, defense and special teams all made huge impacts, and we were able to get an early lead against a really good opponent.”
“We kind of got bogged down offensively a little after halftime, but our defense did a tremendous job of keeping Aurora off the scoreboard.”
Both of the Div. IV, Region 13 semifinal games will feature an area team. Cardinal Mooney (7-4) will play Steubenville (11-0) at Salem’s Reilly Stadium while Girard (10-1) will tangle with Perry at Tiger Stadium in Twinsburg.
Mooney advanced with its 13-7 win at Poland while Steubenville handed Salem a 49-14 setback.
The Cardinals and Big Red have met eight previous times — all in the playoffs. Mooney owns a 7-1 advantage, including a 37-7 victory in the most recent meeting (2013).
Girard earned its first playoff win since 2011 with a 33-31 victory over Lakeview. Perry was a 38-8 winner over Struthers.
The scoreboard operator at Twinsburg should earn his pay. Girard is averaging 46.9 points per game, while Perry is scoring at a 49.3 points-per-game clip.
“Rematch” is the key word in Div. V, Region 17. South Range (11-0) advanced by defeating Crestview for the second time this year. Akron Manchester also advanced with a win against an opponent (Fairless) which it defeated in the regular season.
South Range and Manchester will square for the second time this season, this time at Leopard Stadium in Louisville. On Sept. 8, the Raiders rallied from a 17-point deficit at home to defeat the Panthers 42-36.
“That was a great game, we had to fight to the very end for that win,” South Range coach Dan Yeagley said. “Manchester came to our place ready to play. They are very well-coached, and very disciplined. And now they have the revenge factor.
“An injury forced them to change quarterbacks since we played them. They moved a wide receiver to quarterback, and he is a good athlete who can hurt you several ways. We’ll have our hands full.”
Friday’s winners will advance to the Nov. 17 regional title games.
All games kick off at 7:30 p.m.