ONTARIO — Ontario will be on a familiar football field Friday for a Division III regional championship game.
The Warriors (11-1) will travel to Marion to take on Wapakoneta (9-3) on Ohio Health Field at Harding Stadium, home of Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference foe Marion Harding.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association announced regional title locations Sunday afternoon for all seven divisions across the state.
Ontario is the No. 2-seed in the region and will be considered the home team. Wapakoneta is the fourth seed and will occupy the visitors’ side of the stadium.
The Warriors, whose only loss this season has been to unbeaten Division IV league rival Shelby (12-0), advanced to the regional title game with a 38-21 win against St. Marys Memorial (9-3).
Wapakoneta advanced Friday with a 28-7 win against Celina (10-2), avenging a 7-6 loss to the Bulldogs back in week two of the regular season.
Ontario earned its 11th win of the season largely on the legs of junior running back Max Ciroli (5-11, 190), who churned out 227 yards from the line of scrimmage, including a 72-yard reception.
After the win, Ontario coach Aaron Eckert praised the entire offense.
“You have to play assignment football,” Eckert said. “It’s almost like old-school option in a way; you have to do your job. But when all 11 guys do their job, as we did in the first half, things went really well for the Warriors.”
“(Ciroli is) a stud. He’s been a stud for us all year,” Eckert said. “We planned on having a three- or four-headed monster back there (but we struggled with injuries). He had to pick up the workload.”
Blake Rogers, who almost decided not to play football this season, had a similar role for Wapakoneta against Celina.
According to a story in the Lima News, Rogers caught a 40-yard touchdown, returned a punt 57 yards for a touchdown and had a key pass breakup on Celina tight end Caleb Schlater in the second half.
“I just gave him a hug and told him I’m thankful he decided to play football this year,” Wapakoneta coach Travis Moyer said of Rogers.
“Blake’s been nothing but a class act since he stepped into our program and has done great things for us. He really played well tonight, and he’s done so all year long,” Moyer told the Lima News.
OHSAA Football Regional Final Pairings
All games on Friday, November 20, at 7 p.m.
Home team listed first. Pairings shown with regional seed and record.
Division I
Region 1
No. 1 Lakewood St. Edward (11-1) vs. No. 3 Mentor (10-2) at Parma Byers Field
Region 2
No. 2 Springfield (10-2) vs. No. 4 Huber Heights Wayne (8-4) at Piqua High School
Region 3
No. 4 Powell Olentangy Liberty (8-4) vs. No. 6 Pickerington North (10-3) at Columbus St. Francis DeSales High School
Region 4
No. 1 Cincinnati Princeton (12-0) vs. No. 2 Cincinnati Elder (10-2) at Paycor Stadium, Cincinnati
Division II
Region 5
No. 1 Medina Highland (11-1) vs. No. 3 Macedonia Nordonia (11-1) at Twinsburg High School
Region 6
No. 1 Toledo Central Catholic (10-2) vs. No. 3 Avon (10-2) at Clyde High School
Region 7
No. 1 Columbus Bishop Watterson (11-0) vs. No. 3 Massillon Washington (11-1) at Zanesville High School
Region 8
No. 1 Cincinnati Anderson (11-1) vs. No. 2 Harrison (10-2) at Mason High School
Division III
Region 9
No. 2 Chardon Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin (11-1) vs. No. 8 Youngstown Ursuline (9-4) at Ravenna High School
Region 10
No. 2 Ontario (11-1) vs. No. 4 Wapakoneta (9-3) at Ohio Health Field at Harding Stadium, Marion
Region 11
No. 1 Steubenville (10-2) vs. No. 3 Columbus East (11-1) at New Philadelphia High School
Region 12
No. 1 Bellbrook (12-0) vs. No. 2 Tipp City Tippecanoe (11-1) at Xenia High School
Division IV
Region 13
No. 3 Beloit West Branch (11-1) vs. No. 5 Chesterland West Geauga (11-2) at Stow-Munroe Falls High School
Region 14
No. 2 Shelby (12-0) vs. No. 4 Bellville Clear Fork (10-2) at Mansfield Arlin Field
Region 15
No. 1 Gnadenhutten Indian Valley (11-0) vs. No. 2 New Lexington (11-1) at Coshocton High School
Region 16
No. 2 London (10-2) vs. No. 5 Urbana (10-3) at Marysville High School
Division V
Region 17
No. 1 Perry (12-0) vs. No. 3 Girard (12-0) at Ashtabula Lakeside High School
Region 18
No. 4 Archbold (11-1) vs. No. 10 Coldwater (9-4) at Findlay Donnell Stadium
Region 19
No. 1 Ironton (11-1) vs. No. 2 Beverly Fort Frye (11-1) at Jackson High School
Region 20
No. 4 Waynesville (10-2) vs. No. 6 Middletown Bishop Fenwick (8-5) at Lakota East High School
Division VI
Region 21
No. 1 Kirtland (11-1) vs. No. 2 Canfield South Range (11-1) at Uniontown Lake High School
Region 22
No. 1 Liberty Center (12-0) vs. No. 7 Carey (9-4) at Lima Senior High School
Region 23
No. 4 Woodsfield Monroe Central (9-3) vs. No. 7 Sugarcreek Garaway (10-3) at Meadowbrook High School
Region 24
No. 2 Cincinnati Deer Park (11-1) vs. No. 9 St. Henry (10-3) at Northmont High School
Division VII
Region 25
No. 2 Cuyahoga Heights (11-1) vs. No. 4 New Middletown Springfield (9-3) at Louisville High School
Region 26
No. 1 Leipsic (12-0) vs. No. 2 Bascom Hopewell-Loudon (12-0) at Millbury Lake High School
Region 27
No. 1 Willow Wood Symmes Valley (12-0) vs. No. 2 Danville (12-0) at Logan High School
Region 28
No. 1 Maria Stein Marion Local (12-0) vs. No. 7 New Bremen (8-5) at Sidney High School
