CINCINNATI — Anderson left no doubt Friday night. The top-seeded Raptors rolled past Withrow 58-28 in a Division II, Region 8 quarterfinal at Charles L. Brown Stadium, a final confirmed on the scoreboards published by the Cincinnati Enquirer, The Columbus Dispatch, the Zanesville Times Recorder, High School On SI and MaxPreps.
Anderson entered the night 9-1 and on a nine-game winning streak as the region’s No. 1 seed, TriStateFootball.com reported in its game preview. Withrow, the No. 9 seed, arrived at 8-3 with a six-game winning streak of its own, and the Tigers hoped a hot finish to their season would finally change a one-sided series, according to TriStateFootball.com.
History said otherwise. Friday was the fifth meeting between the schools, and Anderson held a 4-0 series lead beforehand, including a 49-28 win in the 2023 Region 8 championship game and a 29-6 win in last year’s second round, TriStateFootball.com reported. The Raptors also carried a streak of their own in this round: they had not lost a second-round playoff game since falling to La Salle in 2021, according to the same preview.
The pedigree behind those numbers is substantial. Anderson won a state championship in 2007 and finished as state runner-up in 2008, 2024 and 2025, TriStateFootball.com reported. A program that played for the Division II title in each of the last two seasons knows exactly what November requires, and 58 points in a quarterfinal is the clearest possible statement that this year’s Raptors intend to finish the run this time.
Withrow’s season ends at 8-4. The Tigers’ six-game winning streak carried them into the region’s final eight, and they put 28 points on a top seed — but the gap between a good season and a state-title program showed up on the scoreboard, and the series between the schools now stands at five straight Anderson wins, per TriStateFootball.com’s series history.
Region 8’s other quarterfinals were far tighter. Troy edged Lima Senior 27-26, Harrison held off Talawanda 22-21 and Trotwood-Madison beat Trenton Edgewood 39-14, The Columbus Dispatch’s statewide scoreboard reported. Anderson’s 30-point win was the round’s most decisive result in the region.
What happens next brings the region’s closest quarterfinal winner to Anderson’s door. The Raptors host No. 5 seed Troy on Friday, Nov. 13, in a regional semifinal, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported in its Week 13 schedule. Troy survived by a single point on Friday; Anderson won by 30. Something has to give when the Trojans visit Charles L. Brown Stadium with a regional final berth on the line.