Ohio high school football playoffs Division III roundup: Rocky River, Buckeye, Chaminade Julienne among winners in first round (10/27/2023)

The first round of the OHSAA football playoffs kicked off on Friday; here are the results in Division III

The Ohio High School Athletic Association playoffs began Friday night with 448 teams vying for a state championship across seven divisions, with 64 teams in each divisions broken into 16 teams per region.

In Division III, the top four seeds in each region - Ursuline, Geneva, Aurora, Kenston, Toledo Central Catholic, Norton, Columbian, Mansfield Senior, Bishop Watterson, London, Granville, Jackson, Badin, Tippecanoe, Trotwood-Madison and Butler all advanced to the next round with home wins and will host again in the second round.

Meanwhile, all four No. 9 seeds defeated their No. 8 seed counterparts in Division III.

Division III first round scoreboard

First round games of note:

Rocky River 14, Clyde 7

Rocky River, the No. 5 seed in Region 10, got two touchdowns from Julian Patti - one throwing and one running - and made it hold up.

Patti found Ryan Ricketti with a touchdown pass in the first quarter and then broke a 7-7 tie with a touchdown run from one yard away midway through the second quarter.

The defense pitched a shutout the rest of the way, setting up a second round game against Mansfield Senior.

Buckeye 31, Sandusky 29

Trailing by one with just seconds remaining, Buckeye kicker Carter Landes nailed a 21-yard field goal to help the No. 7 seed in region 10 pull off the victory.

Sandusky had taken the lead on a 33-yard touchdown catch by Amir Aaron and then a 2-point conversion with 1:14 left in the fourth quarter.

Buckeye went 59 yards from its own 32 to the Sandusky 9 before Landes came out on the field for the heroics.

Chaminade Julienne 35, Mt. Healthy 28

The Eagles scored twice in the fourth quarter to tie and then take the lead in this back-and-forth game and held on to pull off the upset.

Chaminade Julienne, the No. 10 seed in Region 12, trailed 28-21 after three quarters, but scored the game's final 14 points to set up a game against Tippecanoe in the second round.

Division III playoff brackets:

Division III, Region 9

Division III, Region 10

Division III, Region 11

Division III, Region 12

>>Division III playoff brackets, predictions, upset alerts<<

>>Statewide playoff brackets<<

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

(Feature photo: Youngstown Ursuline quarterback Jack Ericson attempts a pass against Austintown Fitch on September 22, 2023. Photo credit: Jeff Harwell)