Marysville’s Griffin Johnson (22) is brought down by an Olentangy player last Friday. The Monarchs will host Dublin Jerome this week in the opening round of the Division I state playoffs. (Journal-Tribune photo by Chad Williamson)
The abbreviated 2020 high school football regular season is in the books.
Local gridders will now focus their attention on the upcoming state playoffs.
The coronavirus limited the number of regular season games to six weeks.
As such, the Ohio High School Athletic Association opened the post-season to all teams in the state.
Some schools opted out.
The Union County area, however, will have all five squads in the playoffs.
The post-season will start with a rare single game on Friday.
The Marysville Monarchs (5-1) will host the 2-4 Dublin Jerome Celtics at 7 p.m. in Division I, Region 2 action.
It is the lone local grid contest on Friday, since Jonathan Alder (Division III) earned a first-round bye.
Division V and VI games, which include North Union, Fairbanks and Triad, will be played on Saturday evenings.
Fairbanks earned a first-round bye this week.
North Union will host Fostoria and Triad will travel to National Trail for 7 p.m. kickoffs on Saturday.
The MHS-Jerome contest is a rematch from Sept. 11, when the Monarchs won, 31-12.
A second victory over the 10th-seeded Celtics would likely send the seventh-seeded Monarchs on the road to face No. 2 seed and state-ranked (No. 5) Clayton Northmont (6-0) next week.
Northmont will face No. 15 seed Middletown (1-4) this Friday.
North Union (4-2) will carry the eighth seed into Saturday’s home contest against a winless (0-6) Fostoria squad that is the 25th seed in Region 18 of Division V.
A victory would assure the Wildcats of a second-round home game on Saturday, Oct. 17.
NU would play the winner of this Saturday’s Genoa Area (3-3), the No. 9 seed and No. 24 seed Brooklyn (0-3) game.
Brooklyn had open dates on Sept. 11, Sept. 18 and Sept. 25 due to COVID-19.
The team with the higher seed will host second-round games.
The Triad Cardinals (2-4) will carry the 17th seed into their Saturday road game at No. 16 National Trail (2-2).
A victory on Saturday would sent the Cardinals to No. 1-seeded Coldwater (6-0) on Saturday, Oct. 17.
The Cavaliers are ranked at the top of the Associated Press state poll in Division VI.
There could be an opportunity, albeit a faint one, that a pair of local teams could face each other again in the post-season.
If the No. 9 Fairbanks Panthers (4-2) beat No. 8 Fort Recovery on Saturday, Oct. 17, and if the Cardinals could beat National Trail and then stage a huge upset over Coldwater, the two local squads would meet in the playoffs.
That game would be played at FHS’ Kyre Field on Oct. 24, since Fairbanks has a higher seed.
Jonathan Alder (Region 11, D-III) will host its first post-season game after this week’s bye.
The fourth-seeded Pioneers (6-0) will play on Volunteer Field against either Zanesville (No. 13) or No. 20 Buckeye Valley.
That first-round contest will be played in Zanesville on Friday.
Zanesville will take a 2-4 record into the battle, while the Barons are 3-3.
A victory on Oct. 16 will set the Pioneers up for a second-round home game and it could be the most interesting contest of the post-season for local teams.
London (5-1) also earned a first-round bye as the No. 5 seed.
The Red Raiders will host their first playoff game on Oct. 16.
They will play the winner of No. 12 Chillicothe (5-1) and No. 21 Washington Court House Miami Trace (3-3).
Victories by Alder and London would produce a rematch of the Pioneers’ 30-13 victory over the Red Raiders from last Friday.
That game would be played at Jonathan Alder on Friday, Oct. 23.