Kirtland rallied past Jeromesville Hillsdale 36-27 on Friday night, Nov. 13, in an Ohio High School Athletic Association Division VI, Region 21 semifinal at Kirtland. The final score is listed in the Mansfield News Journal’s statewide regional-semifinal list, The Columbus Dispatch’s third-round scoreboard and High School On SI’s statewide finals.
Hillsdale, the region’s No. 4 seed, led most of the first half. The Delaware Source’s Nov. 13 playoff roundup reported that the Falcons led 13-7 after the first quarter and 20-14 at halftime against the region’s No. 1 seed.
Kirtland, which entered the night 10-1, the same record as Hillsdale in the OHSAA’s pairings, moved in front 28-27 by the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Delaware Source reported, and the Hornets won the fourth quarter 8-0 to close out the nine-point win.
The Hornets are the defending Division VI state champions, YSN reported after Kirtland’s 50-0 quarterfinal rout of Brookfield on Nov. 6. Hillsdale reached the semifinal with a 52-14 quarterfinal win over Mineral Ridge, YSN reported in its semifinal preview.
The sources used for this story published no individual scoring plays or player statistics for the semifinal itself beyond the quarter-by-quarter progression reported by the Delaware Source, so none are reported here. Three statewide lists agree on the final: 36-27.
Hillsdale finishes its season 10-2, with both of its losses framing a 10-win campaign that carried the Falcons to the third round of the postseason. Kirtland improves to 11-1 and is one win from the state semifinals.
For Kirtland, November runs are the program’s standard: the Hornets have now followed their championship season with another trip to a regional championship game, this time as the region’s top seed holding serve at home through two rounds.
What happens next: Kirtland meets Canfield South Range in the Division VI, Region 21 final on Friday, Nov. 20. South Range, the region’s No. 2 seed in the OHSAA pairings, beat Hanoverton United 56-7 in the other Region 21 semifinal on Friday, according to the Mansfield News Journal’s statewide list, and improved to 11-1. The OHSAA will announce the neutral site on Sunday, Nov. 15.
Photo: SilentMatt Psychedelic, CC BY-SA 4.0