Week 11 Football Playoff Capsules: Mount Gilead ready for more history

Mount Gilead's football team has already made some history by becoming the first squad at the school to make the high school playoffs. Why not make a little more, Indians head coach Mike Reid asked.

"We have a saying where if you are good enough to be in it, you’re good enough to win it," he said. "We’ve got to look at it like that every week. That’s how we go with that. I told the kids (Monday night) that you are the first Mount Gilead team to make the playoffs. Don’t let somebody else down the road be the first to win a playoff game. You might as well do that, too. While we’re here, let’s go ahead and win this."

Mount Gilead was unable to participate in the 2020 playoffs when every team in the state was invited into the postseason due to the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. The coronavirus wrecked their season as they could only play four games and sat out the playoffs.

So this is new territory for the Indians.

"I feel blessed to be back home and just be part of it," said Reid, who is in his second season at his alma mater after a long career as an assistant coach at Highland. "I’m glad I’m there. The kids have worked extremely hard, and I’m just glad to be a part of it. It’s exciting."

It's just as exciting at Elgin where the Comets, who played in the postseason and won a game in 2020, are in the playoffs with an earned position for the first time since 2005.

"The key word is earned," Elgin coach Zack Winslow said. "I don’t want to take anything away from the guys in 2020. They were obviously a special group to me, but I’m really proud of these guys. We had several times this season where we could have just hung our heads and let the season really go south. They battled back and fought through adversity and found some unity in the process."

Of the six Marion-area teams to make the playoffs, only Highland will be playing at home in Week 11.

"Luckily we’re in Sparta, so we don’t have to travel," Highland coach Ty Stover said. "We’re blessed to be in this position, and it’s all because of the kids’ hard work. It is nice. You can keep the same routine, and that’s the big thing. Driving two or two-and-a-half hours changes things quite a bit. We’re in pretty good shape."

The Scots also get a chance to bounce back from a Week 10 loss to Clear Fork that was for the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference championship.

"We went back to work today," he said Monday night. "We put our hardhats on and went right back to work."

Here are the area's opening round high school football playoff games slated for this weekend:

River Valley at Sandusky Perkins

• Division: IV, Region 14.

• Seeds: No. 14 River Valley (5-5), No. 3 Perkins (9-1).

• Game: Friday, 7 p.m.

• Playoff Pasts: RV ninth appearance (2-9 playoff record), third in a row; Perkins 13th appearance (10-11), third in a row.

• Pirates Notes: Perkins won the Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division with a 5-0 record ... Its only loss was to Warren JFK (8-1) 20-12 in Week 4 ... The Pirates have beaten Elyria Catholic (8-2) in overtime, Huron (8-2), Clyde (7-3), Bellevue (6-2) and Tiffin Columbian (8-2) ... They beat Columbian 31-14, a team that beat RV early in the season 64-28 .... Logan Lesch has completed 75 percent of his passes for 2,450 yards, 29 touchdowns and eight interceptions and ranks fifth in the Lake Division with 562 rushing yards and five more TDs ... Jayden Rowe had 49 catches for 600 yards and five scores, and Braylon Collier has 42 for 624 and nine TDs ... Jon Normington has kicked 41 extra points and six field goals ... Rowe leads the defense with four sacks, while Zach Oprazadek and Sam Sturzinger are the top tacklers with 79.5 and 69 stops.

Defiance Tinora at Highland

• Division: V, Region 18.

• Seeds: No. 10 Tinora (7-3); No. 7 Highland (7-3).

• Game: Friday, 7 p.m.

• Playoff Pasts: Tinora 15th appearance (13-14), third in a row; Highland 11th appearance (4-10), third in a row.

• Rams Notes: Tinora finished 5-2 in the Green Meadows Conference as two of their three losses came to undefeated Liberty Center and Antwerp ... They own wins over Wauseon (6-4), Lima Central Catholic (6-4), Wayne Trace (5-5) and Edgerton (7-3) ... Longtime head coach Kenny Krouse resigned earlier in the month after an alleged hazing incident on the team surfaced, according to news reports from northwest Ohio media outlets ... Jeff Schliesser is now the head coach..

• Stover on the Rams: "They’re going to run it probably 80 percent of the time with some wing T stuff and then they’ll get into a spread," he said. "Their defense is solid and has only given up 21 points in the last few games here. They’re a solid team that get’s after it. They’re aggressive. We’ll have our hands full on Friday night. They are somewhat Galion-ish only because Galion has so many different formations. They’re not like any team we have played this year."

North Union at Coldwater

• Division: V, Region 18.

• Seeds: No 13 North Union (7-3); No. 4 Coldwater (9-1).

• Game: Friday, 7 p.m.

• Playoff Pasts: North Union ninth appearance (5-8), third in a row; Coldwater 28th appearance (84-20), seven state championships, seven state runners-up, 17 state semifinals.

• Cavalier Notes: Coldwater won the state championship in 2020 and was state runners-up last season ... The school has won 19 Midwest Athletic Conference championships and has won 78 percent of its games over the last 47 seasons ... They were denied a 20th league title in Week 10 in a 35-0 winner-take-all loss to undefeated Marion Local ... They've beaten Bellefontaine (8-2), New Bremen (7-3) and Versailles (7-3) with the last one being in overtime in Week 9 ... This season the Cavs are beating teams by an average score of 35-14 ... Two-way threat quarterback Marcel Blasingame broke his leg in Week 9 after amassing 1,300 yards passing and 1,119 yards rushing with a combined 30 touchdowns ... Receiver Braylen Harlamert is the new QB ... Sam Obringer led the MAC in tackles with 91, and Cody Depweg and Evan Homan have teamed for 13 sacks .... The Cavs were the top offense in the MAC and the conference's No. 2 defense.

Mount Gilead at Worthington Christian

• Division: VI, Region 23.

• Seeds: No. 11 Mount Gilead (6-4); No. 6 Worthington Christian (7-3).

• Game: Friday, 7 p.m.

• Playoff Pasts: Mount Gilead, first appearance; Worthington Christian, fourth appearance (1-3), fourth in a row.

• Warriors Notes: Two of Worthington Christian's losses have come to Knox Morrow Athletic Conference teams ... The Warriors lost to Danville 33-17 in Week 1 and 34-28 to Centerburg in Week 3, while MG lost to Centerburg 28-14 and Danville 19-8 ... WC's other loss was to undefeated Barnesville 35-20 .... The Warriors won the Mid-State League's Cardinal Division with a 6-0 record ... Quarterback Hobie Raikes has completed 65 percent of his passes for 1,944 yards, 30 touchdowns and eight interceptions ... Ethan Albert is the top rusher with more than 500 yards and eight TDs as three others have more than 200 yards ... Gibby Wilson owns 37 receptions for 611 yards and 11 scores, and Correll Amsbaugh has 30 for 591 and 10 TDs ... Albert has returned three kickoffs for touchdowns and Wilson has two punt returns and an interception return for TDs ... In every win they've produced at least 42 points a game and have collectively allowed just 62 points ... In its three losses, WC's defense is averaging 34 points against it.

• Reid on the Warriors: "They are a very nice team," he said. "They’ve got some great skill players. They can turn a mundane play into an explosive one really quick. They are a very explosive offense. They are very similar to a Centerburg or in some ways like Loudonville. They did play Centerburg and Danville from our league earlier in the season, and they put some numbers on some pretty good defenses. Danville and Centerburg both have good defenses. They play an even-front defense, and we’ve seen that all year as well. It looks like a pretty evenly matched game. They’re obviously very good or they wouldn’t be in the playoffs. I’m not overlooking Worthington Christian at all. They have some fine skilled players and solid linebacker play. It’s going to be a challenge and a good ball game."

Northmor at Bellaire

• Division: VI, Region 23.

• Seeds: No. 14 Northmor (5-5); No. 3 Bellaire (6-4).

• Game: Saturday, 1:30 p.m.

• Playoff Pasts: Northmor sixth appearance (2-5), sixth in a row; Bellaire 17th appearance (21-16), fifth in a row and sixth in seven seasons.

• Big Reds Notes: Bellaire lost its first two games of the season to undefeated Garaway and one-loss Fort Frye, and it was 1-3 after a loss to 7-1 Wheeling Central Catholic ... The Big Reds won five of their last six games with victories over Cambridge (7-3) and Union Local (5-5) ... They are led by first-year head coach Mark Bonnar ... Coming into Week 10, Jake Heatherington had more than 1,300 passing yards, while Brayden Roth had nearly 700 rushing yards and seven TDs, and Ray Ray Pettigrew had 31 catches for 465 yards.

Elgin at Beverly Fort Frye

• Division: VI, Region 23.

• Seeds: No. 16 Elgin (5-5); No. 1 Fort Frye (9-1).

• Game: Friday, 7 p.m.

• Playoff Pasts: Elgin sixth appearance (2-5), second in two seasons; Bellaire 11th appearance (14-10), eighth straight appearance, 10th since 2012, state semifinal appearances in 2018 and 2020.

• Cadets Notes: Fort Frye's lone loss came on a field goal with 68 seconds left against 7-1 Linsly, W. Va. ... The Cadets have beaten Division II Logan 31-7, Division III John Glenn 33-6 and Division III Zanesville 40-27 ... Other victories over teams with good records include Waterford (7-3), Point Pleasant, W.Va. (4-4), Caldwell (9-1) and Willaimstown, W. Va. (7-1). Owen Brown has rushed for more than 1.000 yards, and sophomore Clayton Miller throws the ball enough to keep defenses honest ... Braxton Brown owns eight interceptions ... The Cadets don't play in a conference, and they are located outside of Marietta.

• Winslow on the Cadets: "They’re a well-coached team and very disciplined," he said. "They run the wing T offensively, and they do it really well. From the tapes that we’ve seen, they take what the defense gives them. There’s been a couple where they’ve had some close first halves and the second half turns into a blowout. They’re really sound fundamentally and they do what they do and they’re super aggressive. They’re built on that foundation of where their expectations are to be good and to be fundamentally sound and to not hurt themselves and all that cliché stuff, but that’s where they live and where they are successful."

rmccurdy@gannett.com

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Marion Star Football Player of Week 10 Poll Winner

Out of 1,274 votes cast for the Marion Star Football Player of Week 10 Poll, Mount Gilead's Judah Reid earned 446 (35 percent) to win it after recording 12 tackles, four sacks and three tackles for loss in a win over Cardington. Other nominees were Marion Harding's Trinity Keith, Elgin's Breckin Dugan, Ridgedale's Nathan Thiel, River Valley's Cayden Shidone and Pleasant's Owen Lowry.

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Week 11 Football Playoff Capsules: Mount Gilead ready for more history