MANSFIELD — It was only a matter of time before the Ohio High School Athletic Association downsized the football playoffs.

At least that’s how new Mansfield Senior coach Antonio Fletcher sees it.

The OHSAA announced on Thursday a new format for the upcoming 2025 postseason and the playoff landscape will look considerably different.

Only the top 12 teams in each region will qualify for the postseason with the top four seeds in each region earning a first-round bye. 

In addition, the first three rounds of the playoffs will be played on the higher seed’s home field before shifting to neutral sites for the regional finals. In previous years, only the first two rounds were hosted by the higher-seeded team.

“Those first-round games between the 16 seed and the top seed were becoming uncompetitive. It was becoming unfair,” Fletcher said. “You had teams with maybe two or three wins going against teams that could legitimately challenge for a state championship. That is how you get kids hurt.”

The 12-team regional format was initially adopted in May of 2020 and was to go into effect that fall, but the COVID-19 pandemic intervened. The regular season was shortened to six games that fall and any team that wanted to participate in the playoffs was eligible. 

The 16-team regional format was adopted for the 2021 season and has been in place ever since. The OHSAA sent out a survey to its member schools in April seeking opinions about the 16-team playoff format.

“For the last few years, we have been pleased that more schools experienced the football playoffs, and there were some lower seeds that won playoff games,” OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute said.

“But over the last year, we have received feedback from our schools, with a slight majority favoring 12 qualifiers per region, and we had many conversations with stakeholders around the state that led us to make this proposal to our board.”

New Madison coach Kobi Johnson had mixed emotions about the announcement.

“From a competitive standpoint, the lower seeds will have a better chance to compete in the first round,” Johnson said.

“At the same time I’m a little disappointed because, with our schedule, we felt like we could put ourselves into a position to fall into one of those (13-16) seeds if we win three games.

“At the end of the day, you’ve got to win.”

In the four years of the 16-team regional format, the No. 1 seeds won 111 of 112 games. The only No. 16-seed to upset a top seed came in the first year of the 16-team format when Edison stunned Bellevue.

Things reached a tipping point last fall in Regon 28 of Division VII, home of four-time defending state champ and small-school juggernaut Marion Local.

The Flyers were the No. 1 seed in and would have faced projected No. 16 seed Lockland in the opening round. Lockland (2-7) opted out of the postseason ahead of the release of the final official computer ratings, however, citing injuries to an already lean 17-man roster.

Lockland’s decision elevated No. 17 Cedarville (4-6) into the 16th spot in Region 28. Cedarville opted out, too, as did No. 18 New Miami (3-6), boosting No. 19 Fort Recovery (2-8) into the final playoff spot in Region 28.

“I kind of expected it, to be honest,” said first-year Fredericktown coach Scott Spitler, who led Lucas to the Division VII state championship game in 2019. “There were two or three teams that declined and they had to go all the way down to the No. 19 seed to get someone to agree to play.

“I don’t know what the right answer is, to be honest. You can make an argument for both sides.”

A facet of the new-look format that nobody can account for is the first-round bye. The top four teams will get a week off — for better or worse.

“I’m a guy who doesn’t like to get out of a routine,” said Ontario coach Aaron Eckert, who led the Warriors to the Region 14 championship game as a No. 3 seed last year. “I wake up in the morning at the same time every day. We follow the same practice routine every week.

“That will be the interesting thing. What do you do with that week?”

Crestview coach Steve Haverdill agreed.

“I’m not a big fan of byes. It gets a high school team off-schedule,” Haverdill said. “To take a week off with high school kids who are used to playing, I don’t like that.

“I’ll be interested to see how those top four seeds do after their bye weeks.”

The new format also could change how coaches put their schedules together. Whereas three wins may have been enough to sneak in as a 16 seed, a team will likely have to finish .500 to qualify for the playoffs going forward. Last year only four of 28 No. 12 seeds had sub-.500 records.

“For us, when the top 16 teams in each regional qualified, it allowed us to put (state powerhouse) Kirtland on our schedule,” Haverdill said. “We could play a Kirtland and, even if we get beat, we can still get in. Now playing Kirtland could hurt us a little bit.

“Going to 12, you’ve got to manipulate your schedule a little bit.”

Lexington qualified as a No. 12-seed in Region 10 of Division III last year. The Minutemen won two road playoff games before falling to eventual state runner-up Toledo Central Catholic in the regional semifinals.

“I talked to our team and told them the new regulations and that came up,” Lex coach Andrew Saris said Thursday. “I think 12 is a fair amount of teams. You are going to get better first-round matchups and better second-round matchups.

“With the 16-team format, some of those first-round games were not competitive. You start to wonder if you were doing more damage than good in the long run.”

Shelby coach Rob Mahaney was especially interested in the OHSAA’s decision to allow the higher-seeded team host through the first three rounds.

The Whippets were seeded second in Region 14 last fall and fell to third-seeded Ontario in an epic regional semifinal game at Arlin Field.

“Playing that game at Arlin added to the excitement,” Mahaney said. “But if that would happen this year, it would be a home game for us.

“I was a little surprised they would add an extra home game when in every other sport (a regional semifinal) is played on a neutral site,” he said.

That change notwithstanding, Mahaney liked the OHSAA’s decision to contract the playoff field.

“Sixteen teams seemed like it was too many,” Mahaney said. “I think 12 feels right.”