Archbold went on the road Friday night, Nov. 13, and toppled top-seeded Keystone 39-8 in an Ohio High School Athletic Association Division V, Region 18 semifinal at Wildcat Stadium in LaGrange. The final score is listed in the Mansfield News Journal’s statewide regional-semifinal list, The Columbus Dispatch’s third-round scoreboard, High School On SI’s statewide finals and the Reflector’s Friday scores.
The Bryan Times reported, in a story carried by the Walton Tribune through the BLOX Digital Content Exchange, that Archbold defeated Keystone in a dominant 39-8 victory Friday evening at Wildcat Stadium. The No. 4-seeded Bluestreaks controlled a matchup of two of Division V’s winningest teams in a game played on the No. 1 seed’s home field.
With the win, Archbold improves to 11-1 and has earned its 26th playoff victory in program history, the Bryan Times reported. It is also the Bluestreaks’ first regional final appearance since 2019, the Bryan Times reported.
Keystone finishes its season 10-1, the Bryan Times reported. The Wildcats’ perfect season — 10-0 entering the night as the region’s top seed — ended one round short of the regional championship game, at home.
The sources used for this story published no individual scoring plays or player statistics for the semifinal itself beyond the final score and the program milestones reported by the Bryan Times, so none are reported here. Four statewide lists agree on the final: Archbold 39, Keystone 8.
Archbold’s road win was one of Friday’s clearest statements in Division V: a No. 4 seed winning by 31 points on the field of the region’s unbeaten No. 1 seed, six years after the program’s last trip to a regional final.
The other half of the Region 18 final is a familiar small-school power. Coldwater, the region’s No. 10 seed, beat Eastwood 26-7 in the other Region 18 semifinal on Friday, according to the Mansfield News Journal’s statewide list.
What happens next: Archbold meets Coldwater in the Division V, Region 18 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: MrHarman, CC BY-SA 2.5