COLUMBUS — The longest winning streak in Ohio high school football rolled on without a serious scare. Top-seeded Columbus Watterson beat No. 4 seed New Albany 45-12 on Friday night, November 13, at Ohio Dominican University’s Panther Stadium in an OHSAA Division II, Region 7 semifinal, according to The Columbus Dispatch’s live game report. The win was Watterson’s 41st in a row, the Dispatch reported.
The Eagles set the tone immediately. Watterson jumped in front 13-0 by the start of the second quarter and built a 27-0 advantage by halftime, according to the Delaware Source’s playoff roundup of the game. New Albany, to its credit, did not fold: the Eagles from New Albany rallied to within 37-12 in the third quarter, the Delaware Source reported.
Watterson closed the door in the fourth. Caden Mangini scored on a 51-yard touchdown run and then added the 2-point conversion as Watterson opened a 45-12 lead in the fourth quarter, the Dispatch reported, and the top seed got the better of the fourth-quarter scoring the rest of the way, finishing the game in style, according to the Delaware Source.
New Albany’s season ends at 9-3, the Dispatch reported — and it ends as one of the best turnarounds in central Ohio. New Albany won just four games in each of the past three seasons, The Dispatch reported earlier this month, before this fall’s run to a first-round bye and a regional semifinal. The Eagles beat Canal Winchester 28-20 in the quarterfinal behind 297 rushing yards, 230 of them in the first half, according to the Dispatch’s quarterfinal takeaways.
Watterson, by contrast, is a program operating at dynasty level. The Eagles were last year’s Division III state champion before moving up to Division II, the Canton Repository noted in its semifinal report, and they have not lost a game since — 41 straight wins, at 11-0 this season, with a state title already in the streak and another now three wins away.
The regional final pairing is the one Ohio football fans wanted. Massillon beat Big Walnut 21-0 in the other Region 7 semifinal on Friday, as covered in Massillon Blanks Big Walnut 21-0 to Avenge Playoff Losses, Reach Regional Final — the Tigers’ third straight shutout, per the Repository — and the final brings together an 11-0 Watterson team riding 41 straight wins and an 11-1 Massillon team that has not allowed a point in three weeks.
Central Ohio’s other Division II and III powers had their own Friday drama, none bigger than the rally covered in Columbus East Rallies From 19 Down to Stun Licking Valley 36-33. Watterson’s night, by comparison, was a lesson in what the region’s standard looks like: a 27-0 halftime lead on a 9-2 team, built without needing a single fourth-quarter rescue until Mangini provided the exclamation point anyway.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on: the Region 7 final is set — Watterson against Massillon, Friday, November 20 — but its site is not. The OHSAA will announce regional-final sites on Sunday, November 15, according to the Repository’s bracket report. Ticket demand for this pairing, a meeting of two of the state’s most storied programs, is expected to drive the choice of a large neutral venue.
There is history layered into the matchup. Massillon ended Big Walnut’s season Friday after Big Walnut had knocked the Tigers out of the playoffs in the Region 7 finals in both 2024 and 2025, the Repository reported. Watterson’s streak, meanwhile, includes last year’s state championship run in a lower division — meaning the Eagles have beaten every opponent Ohio has put in front of them for 41 consecutive games.
For New Albany, the offseason begins with a foundation its recent history lacked: a nine-win season, a playoff bye, a quarterfinal win built on a punishing ground game, and a senior class that turned a four-win program into a regional semifinalist. The Eagles’ next step is closing the gap that Friday’s first half exposed.
What happens next: Watterson (11-0) faces Massillon (11-1) in the Division II, Region 7 final on Friday, November 20, at a site the OHSAA announces Sunday, November 15. The winner advances to the state semifinals on November 27 — and Watterson goes in chasing win number 42 in a row.
Photo: Ohiodominican, CC BY-SA