Tenth-seeded Coldwater looked nothing like a No. 10 seed on Friday night, outscoring second-seeded Triway 21-0 in the second half to win 35-13 in Wooster and advance in the Division V, Region 18 playoffs.
The final score was confirmed on the statewide scoreboards published by The Columbus Dispatch, the Mansfield News Journal, the Zanesville Times Recorder and High School On SI. Coldwater improved to 8-4, while Triway, the Principals Athletic Conference champion, finished 9-2.
The Wooster Daily Record’s recap described a game that turned on one snap late in the third quarter. Coldwater led by eight, Triway had driven into Cavalier territory, and the Titans faced fourth-and-two at the Coldwater 22. Triway, in range for kicker Cohen Baker — who was 2-for-2 on the night — chose to go for the conversion instead, but a run for receiver Bruin Flinner could not turn the corner, and Coldwater’s defense held, The Daily Record reported.
“If you have an opportunity to tie the game up in our territory late in the game, you have to score,” Triway head coach Cody Kelly told The Daily Record. “Credit to them. We had two chances to get two yards. If you wanna win a playoff game, you gotta get two yards on two plays.” Senior receiver and defensive back Brandt Clippinger put it more simply to The Daily Record: “It’s a game of big plays. They made the bigger play.”
Triway trailed just 14-13 at halftime, per The Daily Record, but never scored again. Their only offensive touchdown came on a second-quarter pass from senior quarterback Jaxon Clippinger to Wilson James, and Clippinger threw three interceptions as Coldwater’s defense tightened. The Cavaliers committed no turnovers on offense all night.
Coldwater’s big plays started early. The Daily Record reported that a first-quarter trick play — wide receiver Hugh Hemmelgarn throwing a touchdown pass to Karter Freed — cracked open a Triway defense that had allowed just 22 total points across its previous six games. Quarterback Karsyn Homan hurt the Titans repeatedly after that, escaping pressure to extend plays and hitting passes downfield, according to the same recap.
The context matters here. Triway arrived on a six-game winning streak in which it had outscored opponents 259-22, with state Final Four aspirations in a loaded Region 18, The Daily Record reported. Over the past two seasons the Titans went 19-4 with two outright PAC titles. Coldwater, meanwhile, is a Midwest Athletic Conference program with eight state championships — the most recent in Division VI in 2024 — and seven state runner-up finishes, a pedigree The Daily Record noted made the Cavaliers nobody’s typical 10 seed.
Friday was a statement night for the MAC across the bracket. Heavy’s roundup of the conference’s playoff results noted Marion Local’s 49-0 win over Fort Loramie and Minster’s 49-7 win over Fort Recovery, setting up a Marion Local-Minster semifinal, with St. Henry and New Bremen also advancing. Coldwater’s road win at the region’s No. 2 seed may have been the conference’s loudest result of the night.
For Triway, the locker room afterward was about a senior class that changed the program. “Proud of the seniors. They’re going to go down as one of the most winningest classes in school history, if not the winningest class,” Kelly told The Daily Record. “What they’ve done throughout their four years and my four years has been tremendous. Put Triway football on the map in the area and statewide.” Brandt Clippinger, one of those seniors, told The Daily Record: “Just wish I could play one more game with my guys.”
The rest of Region 18 moved on without them. Archbold routed Bluffton 49-7 and Keystone beat Vermilion 58-27 on Friday, per the Mansfield News Journal scoreboard, and those winners meet in the region’s other semifinal on Nov. 13. The regional final on Nov. 20 will pair the Eastwood-Coldwater winner with the Archbold-Keystone winner — and after Friday, nobody left in the bracket will be treating the Cavaliers like a 10 seed.
Coldwater’s reward is the hardest assignment Region 18 offers. The Cavaliers travel to top-seeded Pemberville Eastwood, which beat Port Clinton 41-25 on Friday, for a regional semifinal on Friday, Nov. 13. It is the same Eastwood program that stands between Coldwater and a regional final, and the Cavaliers will again be the lower seed on the road.
The form book from the last two hours of Friday night, though, says seeds are not scaring this Coldwater team. A defense that just held a 9-1 conference champion scoreless for a half, and an offense that did not give the ball away once, travels well in November. Coverage of the Cavaliers’ playoff run continues alongside the rest of the region’s November football, including Wapakoneta’s 14-12 win at Padua and Celina’s 41-10 rout of Revere in the neighboring Division III bracket.
Photo: Roseohioresident, CC BY-SA 4.0