DEER PARK, Ohio — A season Deer Park will talk about for years added another historic chapter Friday night, Nov. 6, as the Wildcats routed Covington 44-10 in an Ohio High School Athletic Association Division VI, Region 24 regional quarterfinal. Deer Park, the region’s No. 2 seed, hosted the game after a first-round bye and left no doubt against the No. 10-seeded Buccaneers, pulling away for a 34-point win that keeps the Wildcats at home in the regional semifinals.
The victory was more than another playoff win. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, it was Deer Park’s first postseason win since 2021, and it secured the program’s first 10-win season since 1981. That 1981 team, the Enquirer noted, advanced all the way to the regional finals — the standard this year’s Wildcats now have a chance to chase as November football continues in this Hamilton County community.
The matchup paired two teams arriving from very different paths. Deer Park entered at 9-1 with a first-round bye as one of Region 24’s top four seeds, while Covington arrived at 8-3 after a 35-20 opening-round victory over Huntington, according to CSwaff Media’s playoff preview. The final score was confirmed independently by the Columbus Dispatch and the Mansfield News Journal in their statewide Nov. 6 scoreboards, both listing Deer Park 44, Covington 10 among the Region 24 quarterfinal results.
Friday’s win followed a regular season that had already rewritten the program’s history. Deer Park claimed a share of its first-ever Cincinnati Hills League championship this fall, a title sealed with a 41-21 win over previously unbeaten Wyoming — the Wildcats’ first victory over Wyoming since 2006, according to CSwaff Media. That result created a three-way tie atop the league at 6-1 between Deer Park, Wyoming and Indian Hill, and sent the Wildcats into the playoffs at 9-1 with momentum they clearly carried into Friday night.
The run marks a striking turnaround under head coach Tucker Berger, who, according to CSwaff Media, is in his third year leading the program. A team that began the fall chasing a first league title has now added a long-awaited playoff victory and a 10-win season not seen in Deer Park in 45 years.
For Covington, the loss ends a season that included an opening-round playoff win and an 8-3 record entering Friday, according to the OHSAA pairings reported by OHSFB Media. The Buccaneers ran into the region’s No. 2 seed on the road and could not keep pace, as Deer Park turned its bye-week rest into a commanding quarterfinal performance in front of its home crowd.
Next up for Deer Park is a Division VI, Region 24 regional semifinal on Friday, Nov. 13, against Mechanicsburg, which beat Zane Trace 33-14 in its quarterfinal Friday, a result confirmed by the Columbus Dispatch and the Mansfield News Journal. The Cincinnati Enquirer’s projected Week 13 matchups list Mechanicsburg at Deer Park, with a trip to the regional final on the line — one win away from matching that 1981 team’s run.