COLUMBUS, Ohio — Columbus East is moving on in the Ohio playoffs, and the Tigers can thank their return game for it. East beat visiting Sheridan 42-28 on Friday night, November 6, in a Division III, Region 11 regional quarterfinal at Harley Field, according to the Zanesville Times Recorder, which covered the game in Columbus. The Columbus Dispatch statewide scoreboard also listed East 42, Sheridan 28 among Friday’s regional quarterfinal finals.
The third-seeded Tigers improved to 10-1 with the win, a record confirmed by the Newark Advocate in its coverage of East’s next opponent. Sixth-seeded Sheridan, which entered the night 9-2 according to the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s regional quarterfinal pairings, saw its season end despite outgaining East on offense. East, which lost in the Division IV quarterfinals in 2025 according to the Zanesville Times Recorder, is a round further this year — and a round closer to a regional final.
The tone was set on the game’s first play. Dominique Edwards returned the opening kickoff 55 yards, the Zanesville Times Recorder reported, giving East the kind of short field its speed threatened to produce all night. It was not a one-off. East finished the first half with 120 return yards, according to the Zanesville Times Recorder, and those yards shaped everything Sheridan tried to do afterward.
East built a 13-0 lead in the second quarter, capped when quarterback Dion Hansard sneaked in from the 2-yard line with 6:24 left until halftime, the Zanesville Times Recorder reported. That score was set up by a 14-yard catch by Lou Goodlow on fourth-and-12 from the Sheridan 17, according to the Zanesville Times Recorder.
Sheridan finally answered in the final minute of the half, when Tyce Whiteman threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Connors over the middle with 39 seconds left before halftime, cutting the East lead to six, according to the Zanesville Times Recorder. With the Generals set to receive the second-half kickoff, Sheridan had a genuine path to a 14-13 lead — until the kickoff came back the other way.
Michael Thompson-Ayers returned that kickoff 65 yards for a touchdown through the heart of Sheridan’s coverage team, the Zanesville Times Recorder reported. Instead of opening the third quarter playing for the lead, Sheridan drove for a score and still trailed 21-14 five minutes into the second half, according to the Zanesville Times Recorder. Sheridan coach Paul Culver III told the Zanesville Times Recorder the plan on both big first-half returns had been to squib the ball away from East’s deep returners, but the kicks did not go where they were intended.
The Generals spent the rest of the night chasing the game, because Sheridan largely stopped kicking deep to East’s returners altogether until late in the second half, according to the Zanesville Times Recorder. Sheridan also hurt itself with 10 penalties for 105 yards, including multiple 15-yard penalties, the Zanesville Times Recorder reported.
Sheridan did make one more push. After a Connor Roshon interception, Whiteman threw his second touchdown pass to Connors, on fourth-and-goal from the East 14, to pull the Generals within 28-21 with 8:01 left, according to the Zanesville Times Recorder. For a moment, a team that had trailed all night was one stop and one drive from tying a regional quarterfinal on the road.
East answered immediately, and with help. A 17-yard keeper by Hansard was followed by a facemask penalty and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Sheridan, setting up a 15-yard touchdown run by Edwards through traffic, according to the Zanesville Times Recorder. Edwards then scored his third touchdown of the night at the 2:24 mark to push the lead to 42-21, the Zanesville Times Recorder reported, and Whiteman’s late 31-yard touchdown pass to James Solomon only closed the final margin.
Sheridan finished with a 322-291 edge in offensive yards, according to the Zanesville Times Recorder, but managed only 3.1 yards per carry on 31 runs, with S.J. Shriner held to 69 yards on 22 carries, and freshman Emmit Gilder left with an ankle injury after six carries for 28 yards. East, by contrast, averaged 8.1 yards per play, intercepted two passes and did not punt until its final possession, according to the Zanesville Times Recorder.
Individually, Hansard finished 10-of-13 passing for 163 yards with a touchdown and an interception, according to the Zanesville Times Recorder, while Edwards ran 10 times for 63 yards and Hansard added 42 yards on eight carries — 105 combined rushing yards between them. Whiteman finished 17-of-25 for 205 yards and three touchdowns for Sheridan, according to the Zanesville Times Recorder, against an East defense that had allowed 10 points or fewer eight times this season, including six shutouts. “Their speed affects everything,” Culver told the Zanesville Times Recorder. “Our kids kept fighting. That’s all you can ask,” Culver also told the Zanesville Times Recorder.
What happens next is the hardest test East has faced all season. The Tigers play at unbeaten Licking Valley at 7 p.m. on Friday, November 13, in a Division III, Region 11 regional semifinal at Randy Baughman Stadium, according to both the Zanesville Times Recorder and the Newark Advocate. Licking Valley improved to 11-0 on Friday by beating Granville 22-15, according to the Newark Advocate. The winner advances to the Region 11 final on November 20, one win from the state semifinals.
Photo: Aaron Turner, CC BY-SA