Off The Beaten Record: By-The-Numbers Look at the State Semifinals
By ROSS BISHOFF
Marion Local is headed for its 16th Final Four appearance this week in the OHSAA football playoffs. The Flyers take on Liberty-Benton at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Wapakoneta’s Harmon Field.
Marion Local’s 16 trips to the football state semifinals is tied for fifth best all-time in the state, with Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller, no less. It’s the Flyers’ seventh-straight trip to the state semifinals, putting them in rare company as well, considering the state record is nine straight trips—shared by Newark Catholic and Cleveland St. Ignatius.
In each of those recent consecutive trips to the semifinals, only once prior to this season have the Flyers not taken the state title, that was in 2015.
With this weekend’s state semifinals round set to kick off Friday, the OHSAA prepared a thick and fascinating preview loaded up with stats, history, and facts to preview the seven divisions. Here are 10 numbers I swiped to highlight.
2: Marion Local and Liberty-Benton are meeting in the state semifinals for the second time. In 2008, L-B beat the Flyers in a Div. VI semifinal game.
36-7: The Midwest Athletic Conference is 36-7 in state semifinal games against not MAC teams.
3: Minster (9-3) takes on top-seeded Norwalk St. Paul (13-0) at Lima Senior on Friday in a Division VII semifinal. Minster and Norwalk St. Paul have combined for three state titles all-time. Minster won championships in 2013 and 1989 while St. Paul won in 2009.
24: Marion Local and Coldwater, who met this past weekend in regional finals, own the OHSAA record for longest consecutive playoff wins streak at 24. Coldwater did it from 2012-16 while Marion Local did it from 2011-15. The Flyers and Cavaliers have a ridiculous 141 playoff wins and 15 state titles combined.
21: Coldwater owns the longest active streak for making the OHSAA playoffs at 21-straight seasons. St. Ignatius owns the longest-ever streak at 22.
13-0: Three semifinal games feature 13-0 teams. In Div. IV, Steubenville takes on Shelby. In Div. V, Canfield South Range plays Pemberville Eastwood. And in Div. VI, Kirtland takes on Nelsonville-York.
31: Thirty-one 10-0 teams qualified for this year’s playoffs.
6: Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary is the lowest seeded team still alive as a sixth seed. The Fighting Irish (10-3) take on Dresden Tri-Valley (12-1) in Massillon in Div. III. Tri-Valley is one of only two No. 5 seeds alive, New Concord John Glenn being the other. SVSM vs. Tri-Valley is the only semifinal game in which neither team was ranked in the AP’s final state poll. It is also the only semifinal game that is a rematch of a regular season game. SVSM won in Week 1, 21-13.
58: Fifty-eight teams in Ohio still have never made the playoffs. Perry was one of four newcomers to this year’s postseason.
31.2: There are 712 high school football teams in Ohio, 72 schools in Division I and an average of 108 in Divisions II-VII. Of those schools, 224 qualify for the playoffs, 31.2 percent of the teams.
Number of the Week: 11.5 to 13
– Do you really need another number? If so try this one, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal website, Ohio State is between an 11.5- and 13-point favorite, depending on the sportsbook, to beat Michigan on Saturday.
Quote of the Week: “Terry was one of the most gifted receivers we ever had.”
– Patriots owner Robert Kraft on the death of wide receiver Terry Glenn, 43 years old. Glenn, an Ohio State and NFL receiver, died Monday in a traffic accident near Dallas.