Middletown Bishop Fenwick went on the road Friday night, Nov. 13, and beat Williamsburg 27-13 in an Ohio High School Athletic Association Division V, Region 20 semifinal, ending the Wildcats’ 10-game winning streak and sending the Falcons to a regional championship game for the first time since 2015. The final score is listed in the Mansfield News Journal’s statewide regional-semifinal list and The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Week 13 scores, and Fenwick’s schedule page on MaxPreps and Joe Eitel’s Week 13 scoreboard both record the 27-13 final.
Fenwick, the region’s No. 6 seed, entered the night 7-5, and Williamsburg, the No. 2 seed, entered 10-1, according to the OHSAA’s regional-semifinal pairings. Kickoff was pushed back to 8 p.m. because Fenwick’s girls volleyball program was playing in the state tournament, The Clermont Sun reported in its semifinal preview.
It turned into a banner day for the whole school. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that after Fenwick’s girls volleyball team won its third state championship in Dayton earlier in the day, fans had time to make the drive to Williamsburg in time for the football team’s 8 p.m. kickoff — and the Falcons gave them a second win to celebrate.
The Enquirer’s Week 13 takeaways reported that Fenwick quarterback McCaffrey Halcomb and receiver Hudson Kreke were in sync all night, connecting for two touchdowns, and that the Falcons’ defense held Williamsburg’s running game in check. Kreke’s two touchdown receptions also landed him on the Enquirer’s list of the week’s top performers in Greater Cincinnati.
Williamsburg had history of its own on the line. The Clermont Sun reported that the Wildcats were playing in their first regional semifinal since 1986 and were seeking the first regional final appearance in program history, after a 61-20 quarterfinal rout of Greenon on Nov. 6 that was just the third playoff win in school history.
Fenwick’s own path ran through a shutout. The Falcons blanked No. 3 seed Miami East 34-0 on Nov. 6, The Clermont Sun reported, part of a late-season surge by a team that took five regular-season losses and arrived in Clermont County as one of the bracket’s most dangerous low seeds.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on: the 27-13 final is confirmed across four separate score sources, and the Halcomb-to-Kreke connection and the defensive stand against the run are reported by The Cincinnati Enquirer. The OHSAA’s neutral-site announcement for the regional finals is still to come on Sunday, Nov. 15.
The loss ends Williamsburg’s season at 10-2. A 10-game winning streak, a home quarterfinal rout and the program’s first semifinal in four decades still add up to the best season in school history by the measures The Clermont Sun laid out before the game — even with the first final still out of reach.
Fenwick improves to 8-5, and the drought is over: the Enquirer reported the win sends the Falcons to the regional finals for the first time since 2015, ending an 11-year drought. A No. 6 seed that took five regular-season losses is now one win from the state semifinals.
The final pairs the region’s two Friday survivors. Read our coverage of Waynesville’s 14-7 defensive win over top-seeded Graham Local, the result that set the other half of the Region 20 final, and of Coldwater’s 26-7 upset of Eastwood, another low seed still alive in Division V.
Waynesville will test Fenwick differently than Williamsburg did. As NewsForce247 reported earlier today, the Spartans reached the final by holding Graham Local to seven points — the same kind of defensive game Fenwick just played on the road. Friday’s final in Region 20 now matches two defenses that allowed 20 combined points in the semifinals.
The bracket calendar from here is the OHSAA’s published format: regional finals on Friday, Nov. 20 at neutral sites, state semifinals on Friday, Nov. 27, and the seven state championship games Dec. 3-5 at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, according to the OHSAA’s regional-semifinal pairings release. Fenwick is two wins from Canton.
What happens next: Fenwick meets Waynesville in the Division V, Region 20 final on Friday, Nov. 20, at a neutral site the OHSAA will announce on Sunday, Nov. 15. The winner advances to the state semifinals on Nov. 27.
Photo: Aesopposea, CC BY-SA 3.0