St. Ignatius upsets Mentor in first round of Ohio high school football playoffs

Two of the Wildcats' three wins this season came on the road against the Cardinals
St. Ignatius upsets Mentor in first round of Ohio high school football playoffs
St. Ignatius upsets Mentor in first round of Ohio high school football playoffs /

St. Ignatius did it again.

In a season in which the Wildcats entered the playoffs with only two wins, they upped their season total of wins over Mentor this season to two with a 10-7 victory Friday night.

Yes, the 3-8 St. Ignatius Wildcats — the No. 12 seed — are heading to the second round of the Division I Ohio high school football playoffs.

Mentor, which was the No. 5 seed, finishes its season 7-4, with half its losses coming by five total points to St. Ignatius.

Senior running back Max Ritt got hurt on the first play of the second half for visiting St. Ignatius, but Grant Washington made some huge plays in his stead. 

The biggest was the junior's 57-yard run to set up the only touchdown of the game, a 17-yard strike from Joshua Papesh to Cody Haddad.

St. Ignatius advances to play No. 4 seed Canton McKinley next week.

Rik Danburg, “The Voice of the Mentor Cardinals” since the 1973 season as the public address announcer, called his final game, as he's retiring after 50 seasons.

In a penalty-filled game Friday night, one of Danburg's most oft-heard phrases in the final game of an illustrious career was, "Flag on the play."      

Ohio high school football scores: Division I playoffs (10/27)

Ohio high school football playoffs 2023: Division I brackets, predictions, upset alerts

Ohio high school football all-division scoreboard

(File photo by Mike Cook)

-- Mike Swanson | swanson@scorebooklive.com | @sblivesports


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Mike Swanson, SBLive Sports
MIKE SWANSON

Mike Swanson is the VP of Content for High School On SI. He's been in journalism since 2003, having worked as a reporter, city editor, copy editor and high school sports editor in California, Connecticut and Oregon.