Division 2 Region 8 playoff discussion

As for the LM LaSalle get I will say this if you are gonna beat LaSalle get them in the first round.

Yes, La Salle may be just fatigued after facing four games that have to have been as tough as anyone in the state in CovCath, X, Winton Woods and Elder. I doubt the Lancers will look ahead, but high-school kids are high-school kids. This could be an opportunity for LM to catch LS taking a breather like Edgewood did in 2016 after LS had just won an emotional GCL championship at Elder.
 
Thank you for the scouting report on Xenia. I'm curious to see how that game goes on Friday.

Any Columbus area posters out there who can fill us in on Walnut Ridge, St Francis DeSales, or Canal Winchester? Obviously I'm most interested in any information on Canal Winchester.
DeSales runs a balanced offense.They have excellent skill players and can score quickly.Their defense is suspect against the run.Hartley controlled the line of scrimmage and run the ball down the Stallions throat.Turpin needs to control the clock to beat DeSales.
 
I completely agree. I love that they aren't scared to play anyone but you have to get in to win. This year's schedule left them no room for error since Edgewood struggled. Would the playoffs be stronger with them and little Miami out absolutely, but if you refuse to schedule correctly it's a result you have to be able to live with. Next year being in a league will certainly help them.

It will be much easier for Winton Woods to schedule next year. They will not have to worry about weeks 3-10. Damn shame they are not in because I believe they are very good. Same for my Redskins. Two tight losses to top 4 harbin teams in the region and a loss to a d1 playoff team.
 
Thank you for providing the link to that! I'm going to take a look at it right now. I know this was their only loss so I'm curious to see what Madison did to be able to beat them by 28 pts.

Groveport is a D1 school (Levon Bell's school) who came out of nowhere with an exceptional senior class and beat recent D1 state Champ Pickerington Central this year as well, which is PCs only loss of the season. I haven't seen many highlights of them, but I have seen PC play and they must be a VERY good team to have beaten PC. You should be able to click thru those links to see box scores from each of the games. GM also went toe-to-toe with 3-time defending D1 final-4 team Olentangy Liberty and came up just short.

Looking thru CWs other games, it appears they did end up throwing the ball a bit in later games, had 200+ passing yards a couple times against some pretty good teams like 7-3 D1 New Albany (who actually beat Groveport 35-7 last week). New Albany does have trouble defending the pass, however, as they also lost to 5-5 Olentangy.

That is a long bus ride, tho, and big home field advantage.
 
It will be much easier for Winton Woods to schedule next year. They will not have to worry about weeks 3-10. Damn shame they are not in because I believe they are very good. Same for my Redskins. Two tight losses to top 4 harbin teams in the region and a loss to a d1 playoff team.

As an LM fan after watching Simon Kenton last week I believe Anderson could have been very easily in the top 8. Anderson's defense was just better than LM's. I also think that maybe SK it being there first game of the season and a freshman QB maybe they weren't as sharp as they are now which led to such a lopsided score. I definitely think Anderson would have won no matter what. But it may have been a bit closer in that one. The influx of Columbus teams this year and Xenia bursting on the scene screwed a lot of "traditional" R8 power teams out of the playoffs. Teams like Anderson/WW/ and even Kings were effected. Kings I think gave up on that last game against WC. That Harrison and Hamilton game really hurt Anderson this year. The Hamilton game's loss baffles me. Hamilton is a D1 playoff team but they loss to Lakota East and are they only 5-5 just like every team in D1. I actually think it was harder to be in the playoff in R8 this year than R4.

I think DP's rankings are very spot on. I put LM at 9 or 10 in R8. LM just was able to schedule effective enough to get in to the playoffs, and they for the most part played very well this year. If that Mt Healthy game went a different way they could have been sitting at 4 with a home game.
 
As an LM fan after watching Simon Kenton last week I believe Anderson could have been very easily in the top 8. Anderson's defense was just better than LM's. I also think that maybe SK it being there first game of the season and a freshman QB maybe they weren't as sharp as they are now which led to such a lopsided score. I definitely think Anderson would have won no matter what. But it may have been a bit closer in that one. The influx of Columbus teams this year and Xenia bursting on the scene screwed a lot of "traditional" R8 power teams out of the playoffs. Teams like Anderson/WW/ and even Kings were effected. Kings I think gave up on that last game against WC. That Harrison and Hamilton game really hurt Anderson this year. The Hamilton game's loss baffles me. Hamilton is a D1 playoff team but they loss to Lakota East and are they only 5-5 just like every team in D1. I actually think it was harder to be in the playoff in R8 this year than R4.

I think DP's rankings are very spot on. I put LM at 9 or 10 in R8. LM just was able to schedule effective enough to get in to the playoffs, and they for the most part played very well this year. If that Mt Healthy game went a different way they could have been sitting at 4 with a home game.

You make some excellent points. I think Hamilton matched up well with Anderson. The Harrison game should be a case study. To pretty good offenses literally going scoreless during regulation and not in a monsoon. I think the Simon Kenton game ends in a similar way. Despite injuries at QB, Anderson just kept plugging guys in and moved the ball on everyone (not named Harrison and I doubt they would against Lasalle and Winton Woods). The Defense seemed to get better and better as the year went along.

Also I agree it was tougher to get into the playoffs in region 8 over 4. Nature of the beast when half the teams qualify in region 4.
 
LaSalle over Little Miami... Running Clock

Xenia over Walnut Ridge... Walnut Ridge played a weak schedule but they are talented. Xenia by 7

Harrison over Canal Winchester... Harrison by 14, close game early and the Wildcats pull away late.

Turpin vs. DeSales... is the best 1st round game of this Region Turpin is reward for their 10-0 record with the toughest of the 5-8 seeds. I think this game is a pick’em!
Walnut Ridge had an incredibly weak Columbus city schedule. They've played nobody. Nice for Xenia.
Turpin - De Sales best match up of week. Is Evans healthy? I didn't see him play at Milford.... If he's lost, that's a big loss for Turpin...
 
Last edited:
Walnut Ridge had an incredibly weak Columbus city schedule. They've played nobody. Nice for Xenia.
Turpin - De Sales best match up of week. Is Evans healthy? I didn't see him play at Milford.... If he's lost, that's a big loss for Turpin...
He's been out since Week 6 and will not return this season.
 
Does anyone know who the region 8 state qualifier plays? Is it 5,6 or 7?
I'll bet anyone the R8 winner will end facing the R7 winner. Since 2013 when the state went to 7 divisions here is how it went.

2013 - 2015 when DI was two divisions R1 & R2, DII was R3-R6 and R6 played the R5 winner every time (Zanesville, Olentangy, and Perrysburg)
2016 - R8 played R6 because Whitehouse Anthony Wayne came out of R6
2017-2018, R8 played R7 (Massillon) because three regional winners came out of the NE.

Take it to the bank, this year R8 winner will play the R7 winner, probably Toledo Central Catholic (10-0) or Whitehouse Anthony Wayne (10-0) at either Piqua or Sidney. Both Piqua and Sidney played in R7 this year and neither one made the playoffs and neither one played the projected winners from R8 or R7. Great neutral site. Both schools have field turf.


 
Last edited:
Thank you for providing the link to that! I'm going to take a look at it right now. I know this was their only loss so I'm curious to see what Madison did to be able to beat them by 28 pts.
Snowman, Just curious any good info on Canal Winchester? Run, throw, big, fast?? Thread is dying. Missing your posts.
 
It looks like they prefer to run the ball and they have a really good running back that we'll have to contain. A couple of our Columbus area posters provided some background on them earlier in the thread. In some games they did pass the ball effectively but in watching some video of them they definitely prefer to run the ball. They are actually a team that would fit very well in the SWOC style-wise. Harrison has always been the exception in the SWOC with our passing game. Most of the teams in our conference run the ball 90+% of the time.

The weather tonight will be very cold and many people will think that favors a running team but I'm not worried about that. It was very cold last week as well and we had 400 passing yards so I don't think our guys mind the cold that much. Massive home field advantage for the Wildcats tonight that will hopefully be a huge difference maker in the game. I really think it's going to come down to one thing.....can CW pressure our QB? If not, it will be a very long night for them.
 
It looks like they prefer to run the ball and they have a really good running back that we'll have to contain. A couple of our Columbus area posters provided some background on them earlier in the thread. In some games they did pass the ball effectively but in watching some video of them they definitely prefer to run the ball. They are actually a team that would fit very well in the SWOC style-wise. Harrison has always been the exception in the SWOC with our passing game. Most of the teams in our conference run the ball 90+% of the time.

The weather tonight will be very cold and many people will think that favors a running team but I'm not worried about that. It was very cold last week as well and we had 400 passing yards so I don't think our guys mind the cold that much. Massive home field advantage for the Wildcats tonight that will hopefully be a huge difference maker in the game. I really think it's going to come down to one thing.....can CW pressure our QB? If not, it will be a very long night for them.

CW has given up 2 passing TDs all year. Opposing QBs have only completed 35% of their passes on them in the last 20 games (combined). They have a lot of speed in the back half and a D1 6'5 220lbs pass rusher (who hasn't played in recent weeks due to injury). I think the match up is Harrison's DL vs CW running game. Seems like a lot of folks aren't giving CW a chance. I don't think you go 18-2 in your last 20 games if you aren't any good. Gonna be a great game.
 
I can't speak for anyone else but I have lots of respect for CW and what they've done this year. We'll have to play really well to win this game. It seems like there are some great matchups to watch for tonight. I can guarantee you that our coaches and players respect CW as well and they know they're playing a great team tonight. Has CW played anyone like Harrison the last couple years? When I say like Harrison, I mean a team with a passing attack like ours.
 
Lol maybe these teams should schedule up so they can advance. Once again it’s LaSalle’s to lose. Winton Woods would have cruised until LaSalle.
 
Little Miami making the playoff was an absolute disgrace.

What happened to Turpin? They finally played someone good.

And I really underestimated what hot garbage Dayton-area football is right now. The heat is off you SWO, Dayton has some splainin to do.
 
Little Miami making the playoff was an absolute disgrace.

What happened to Turpin? They finally played someone good.

And I really underestimated what hot garbage Dayton-area football is right now. The heat is off you SWO, Dayton has some splainin to do.
Darn you posted right as I was typing. I’ve got my popcorn ready.
 
Any one think LS WR game will be at Welcome stadium in Dayton
zero chance. i actually started a separate thread about Welcome the other day- turns out the OHSAA stopped using Welcome when they started having problems with Dayton public schools. and DPS is currently still on probation. i wouldn’t be shocked to see Walnut Ridge go right back to Xenia next week for this matchup. Beavercreek, Centerville, Wayne, and maybe even Springfield are probably in play for this matchup
 
I just got back from a 2 hr drive from Toledo, will have more to say tomorrow. Especially for those who still don't "get it" about Columbus football. an R7 final you may not have seen yet, Olentangy 42 Troy 10, running clock achieved early in 3Q. A LOT of loud-mouths from last year's R8 didn't want to hear about what a mismatch Tangy was to anyone other than LaSalle or WW. Well, there ya go. And Xenia, and Turpin. It's a good thing Harrison won, because without that talking point it would have been time to burn the place down.
 
Top