Tonight is the night Richwood has been building toward for ten weeks. The No. 9 seed North Union Wildcats (7-3) travel to Vermilion tonight to face the No. 8 seed Vermilion Sailors (7-3) in an Ohio High School Athletic Association Division V, Region 18 first-round playoff game, and Friday Night Lights LIVE is in the press box to carry every snap — pregame at 6:45 p.m., kickoff at 7 p.m.
The conditions could hardly be better for playoff football on the Lake Erie shore. The National Weather Service forecasts a sunny day in Vermilion with a high near 58, turning partly cloudy tonight with a low around 42. At the 7 p.m. kickoff, the hourly forecast calls for partly cloudy skies and about 52 degrees with a light north wind and no chance of rain, cooling into the upper 40s as the game goes on — a blanket night in the stands, with the weather staying out of the way of the football.
The stakes are as simple as November football gets: win or go home. The winner advances to the regional quarterfinal on Friday, November 6, at No. 1 seed LaGrange Keystone. The loser’s season ends tonight. Ten weeks of work bought both teams a place in this bracket, and one night on the shore decides which of them is still practicing next week.
On paper, it is as even as a first-round draw gets — an eight seed and a nine seed carrying identical 7-3 records into the same field. Vermilion earned the home game over ten weeks and defends its own crowd tonight. North Union makes the trip north out of Union County knowing the price of the nine seed is a bus ride and somebody else’s home field, and that everything after tonight has to be earned on the road.
Friday Night Lights LIVE has the call from the Vermilion press box, where broadcast attendance and credentials are confirmed and the press box is set. Big Z and Bryson bring the pregame show at 6:45 p.m., with kickoff at 7 p.m., and they stay with the Wildcats and Sailors through the final whistle — and, for one of these teams, the celebration that follows it.
Tonight’s broadcast is presented by Van Java Hibachi of Marion. The Van Java Hibachi pregame and halftime presentations lead the coverage, with chicken, pork, steak and shrimp hibachi made fresh at 526 W Center St in Marion — fuel up before kickoff, and follow the Wildcats with Big Z and Bryson all night.
Fans can listen live free in The NewsForce247.com App at app.newsforce247.com, in the Listen Live player at NewsForce247.com, on TuneIn, and in the other streaming directories carrying NewsForce Radio.
Photo: JonRidinger, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons