Area football fans won’t have to do much traveling for the opening round of the playoffs.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association released its final regular-season computer rankings Saturday, officially confirming that five local teams will be playing playoff football.
Four of those squads will be hosting first-round games Friday night.
The top 16 teams in each region earned playoff berths, with the top eight hosting in the first round. Those finishing in the top four will also play at home in the second round providing they win their first-round game.
Those earning playoff berths locally were Bellefontaine in Division III, West Liberty-Salem and Indian Lake in Division V and Ridgemont and Riverside in Division VII.
The Chieftains (8-2) closed the regular season on a four-game winning streak and that pushed Bellefontaine up to the fifth spot in Division III, Region 12.
Bellefontaine will host 12th-seeded Dayton Chaminade-Julienne on Friday at AcuSport Stadium.
Chaminade-Julienne finished with a 5-5 record. The Eagles closed the regular season with back-to-back losses, including a 31-6 defeat against Kettering Alter in Week 10.
WL-S (9-1) is the highest seeded of the area teams at number two in Division V, Region 20. The Tigers will welcome 15th-seeded Arcanum for a first-round game Friday night. The Trojans went 6-4 during the regular season, capping the season with two straight wins.
Also in Region 20, Indian Lake (8-2) earned the fifth seed. The Lakers will host 12th-seeded Versailles (5-5) on Friday in the first round.
Versailles finished the regular season on a five-game losing streak, but as a member of the daunting Midwest Athletic Conference, the Tigers’ losses came to Marion Local (48-0), Anna 13-7, Minster 35-0, Coldwater 52-14 and St. Henry 17-10.
Ridgemont’s football program has made history with its playoff berth. This is the first time the Gophers have qualified for the playoffs.
Ridgemont, at 8-2, turned in its first winning season this fall since the Gophers went 7-3 in 1995. Prior to that, the 1979 season was the last with a winning record.
The Gophers are seeded fifth in Division VII, Region 28. They will host Ft. Loramie for a first-round game Friday.
The Redskins are 5-5 on the season. They are coming off a 31-21 win over Allen East in Week 10.
Riverside, which also resides in Region 28, is the lone local team that has to go on the road in the opening round. The Pirates (4-6) are seeded 12th and will play at Lehman Catholic on Friday. That game will be a rematch from a regular-season matchup in which the Cavaliers won 34-18 in Week 7.
Ohio playoff history
The current computer ranking and playoff system in Ohio high school football began in 1972. Initially, there were just three “classes” of competition: AAA, AA and A. Schools were placed in each class depending on size. There were four regions in each class, with only one team in each region qualifying for the playoffs.
Changes were made to the system in 1980. Instead of “classes,” teams were divided into “divisions” and five divisions were established, with Division I being the biggest and V the smallest. Also, instead of one team from each region making the playoffs, it expanded to two teams from each region.
The playoffs were then expanded again in 1985 as four teams from each region earned postseason berths.
The OHSAA established a sixth division for high school football in 1994, and in 1999, the amount of playoff qualifiers in each region doubled from four to eight.
In 2013, a seventh division was added. During the Covid season of 2020, the OHSAA elected to allow all of their schools to “opt in” to the football playoffs.
Then in 2021, the current model was adopted, with the playoff field being doubled again, this time moving from eight teams to 16 in each region.