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

Get all the information for the 2023 Division I Ohio high school football playoffs on SBLive

As the end of October nears, it is time for the Ohio high school football postseason to begin.

All seven divisions will begin the playoffs on Friday, Oct. 27 with all games being played on Friday nights throughout the state semifinals (unless circumstances force a game to be moved to Saturday).

>> Ohio high school football playoff brackets 2023 <<

The first two rounds will be played at the home site of the higher seed, with all games in later rounds at a neutral site to be determined by the OHSAA. The state semifinal pairings will be announced following the regional finals. 

The seven OHSAA football State championship games will be played in Canton at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium from Nov. 30-Dec. 2.

But before anyone can make it to Canton, they must first get through their region.

Here, we will take a look at the top four seeds in each region of Division I, along with a team to watch outside the top four, an upset alert for the first round and ultimately, a prediction on who will win each region.

Stay with SBLive Ohio for all of the matchups, game times and scores throughout the 2023 OHSAA football playoffs.

Division I, Region 1

Top Seeds: St. Edward, Cleveland Heights, Wadsworth, Canton McKinley 

Team to watch outside top 4: No. 6 Medina 

First round upset alert: No. 12 St. Ignatius over No. 5 Mentor 

Predicted region winner: St. Edward 

Division I, Region 2

Top Seeds: Olentangy, Olentangy Berlin, Findlay, Centerville 

Team to watch outside top 4: No. 12 Springfield 

First round upset alert: No. 12 Springfield over No. 5 Wayne 

Predicted region winner: Olentangy Berlin

Division I, Region 3

Top Seeds: Gahanna Lincoln, Hilliard Bradley, Pickerington North, Upper Arlington 

Team to watch outside top 4: No. 7 Westerville North 

First round upset alert: No. 11 Groveport Madison over No. 6 Hilliard Darby 

Predicted region winner: Gahanna Lincoln 

Division I, Region 4

Top Seeds: Milford, Princeton, Lakota West, St. Xavier

Team to watch outside top 4: No. 5 Archbishop Moeller

First round upset alert: No. 10 Sycamore over No. 7 Hamilton 

Predicted region winner: Moeller 

-- Ryan Isley | ryan@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveoh

(Feature photo: St. Edward enters the playing field before the 2022 Division I state championship game. photo credit: Jeff Harwell)


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Ryan Isley, SBLive Sports
RYAN ISLEY, SBLIVE SPORTS

Ryan Isley is a regional editor at SBLive Sports for the states of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Ryan, a native of Akron, Ohio, has been following and covering high school sports in Ohio for more than 20 years, including the St. Vincent-St. Mary basketball teams that featured NBA superstar LeBron James. Ryan joined the SBLive staff full-time in May, 2022 after freelancing for SBLive Sports for nearly nine months, beginning with his experience covering Bishop Sycamore, which was featured in a documentary in the summer of 2023. You can reach Ryan at ryan@scorebooklive.com