Masen Seitz carried the ball 41 times for 242 yards and five touchdowns on Friday night as Tiffin Columbian opened the OHSAA Division III, Region 10 playoffs with a 35-12 victory over Midview at Frost-Kalnow Stadium, according to the game recap published by Columbian High School’s athletics department.
The seventh-seeded Tornadoes improved to 8-3 and advanced to the second round, where a far more personal test waits: a trip to Ontario next Friday for a rematch of a Week 3 meeting that Ontario won 49-28, the school’s recap noted.
Columbian struck first in the opening quarter when Seitz capped a scoring drive with a four-yard touchdown run for a 7-0 lead, according to the recap. The game’s defining sequence, though, came in the second quarter and belonged as much to the Tornado defense as to its senior running back.
Facing a Midview drive deep in Columbian territory, the Tornado defense produced a goal-line stand, stopping the Middies just short of the end zone. Taking over at its own one-yard line, the offense then marched 99 yards down the field, with Seitz finishing the drive on a one-yard touchdown run to make it 14-0 at halftime, the recap said.
Midview opened the second-half scoring with a 30-yard touchdown pass, but a missed extra point left Columbian ahead 14-6. The Tornadoes answered the way they had all night — on the ground, behind Seitz. He broke loose for a 46-yard touchdown run and then added a score from 23 yards out to push the advantage to 28-6, according to the school’s account.
Midview responded with a 10-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter, but a failed two-point conversion left the Middies trailing 28-12. Seitz closed the book in the fourth quarter with a 12-yard touchdown run, his fifth rushing score of the night, securing the 35-12 final.
The numbers behind the performance were as lopsided as the score. Beyond his 242 rushing yards, Seitz added 30 receiving yards, and Columbian finished with 376 yards of total offense — 235 rushing and 141 passing — while holding Midview to 233 total yards, including just 92 on the ground, the recap reported.
Quarterback Logan Gooding was efficient through the air, completing 11 of 14 passes for 141 yards, and Dazarius Russell led the Tornado receivers with five catches for 43 yards, according to the school. The defense forced a turnover while the Columbian offense played turnover-free football.
The performance also fit the identity Columbian has built this season: a run-first offense comfortable handing its senior back the ball more than 40 times in the biggest game of the year, and a defense that stiffens most when its backs are against its own goal line. In a Division III, Region 10 bracket where the second round routinely separates contenders from the rest of the field, that combination — a workhorse runner and a defense that has already produced a season-defining stand — is exactly what the Tornadoes will carry on the road.
Friday’s opener continued a strong opening weekend for northwest Ohio programs across the bracket. NewsForce247 has followed the region’s postseason from its first whistle, including Fremont Ross’s 42-14 win over Southview, the Little Giants’ fourth home playoff victory in program history.
Farther east in the region, Findlay routed North Olmsted 54-14 to open its own playoff run, another result NewsForce247 covered as the first round reshaped each division’s bracket heading into the second weekend of the postseason.
For Columbian, the context makes Friday’s win more than a comfortable first-round result. Playoff openers can tighten up for higher-seeded home teams, but the Tornadoes controlled the line of scrimmage from the goal-line stand onward, and their best player produced the kind of workload — 41 carries — that travels well in November football.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What we know: Columbian is 8-3, Seitz delivered one of the biggest rushing nights in the state on Friday, and the Tornadoes’ defense has already shown it can change a game at its own goal line. What we’re still waiting on: the official kickoff details for the Ontario rematch and whether the Warriors’ defense, which gave up points in the Week 3 meeting as well, can slow a running game that has only grown more confident since September.
What happens next is the rematch itself. Columbian travels to Ontario next Friday with a trip to the regional semifinals on the line — and with a Week 3 loss, 49-28, that the Tornadoes have waited two months for a chance to answer.