Columbus Bishop Watterson’s unbeaten season rolled into the regional semifinals on Friday night, as the top-seeded Eagles beat Whitehall-Yearling 36-6 in a Division II, Region 7 regional quarterfinal in Columbus. The final was confirmed by scoreboards published by The Columbus Dispatch, the Mansfield News Journal, the Zanesville Times Recorder and High School On SI.
The Dispatch’s live playoff blog tracked the game alongside its featured coverage and reported Watterson leading Whitehall 36-6 late in the evening — the margin that stood as the final — while its quarterfinal takeaways listed Watterson at 10-0 heading into next week’s semifinal. The Eagles, who earned the region’s No. 1 seed and a first-round bye, were playing their first game of the 2026 postseason.
Whitehall-Yearling arrived as the No. 8 seed with a 9-2 record, according to the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s published quarterfinal pairings, and the Rams’ season ends at 9-3 after the road loss. For Watterson, the win continued a regular season that Wolfe Sports Recruiting’s Central Ohio playoff update described as nine wins without a loss, capped by a first-round bye for the region’s top seed.
The closing stretch of that regular season showed the form the Eagles carried into Friday. Wolfe Sports Recruiting’s senior features reported that Watterson’s regular season closed with wins over Walsh Jesuit and St. Charles, part of a nine-game run in which the Eagles were never beaten and rarely pushed late. Whitehall, by contrast, had to win a first-round game just to reach Columbus — a rest-versus-rhythm matchup that, on this night, broke entirely toward the rested top seed.
The Eagles’ identity all season has been balance and defense. Wolfe Sports Recruiting’s player features on the unbeaten regular season reported running back Caden Mangini averaging 102.3 rushing yards per game, with Dash Hoy adding 73.8 yards per game on the ground, and senior Micheal Boyle leading Watterson’s published sack totals on defense. The same features noted the Eagles shut out Walsh Jesuit 21-0 on Oct. 16 and held St. Charles to three points in the regular-season finale, according to Wolfe Sports Recruiting.
That defensive standard is part of a larger program standard. Ohio Prep Football’s school history lists Bishop Watterson with seven state championships, the most recent in 2025 — a pedigree that makes every November meeting with the Eagles a measuring-stick game for the rest of Region 7, and one reason Friday’s quarterfinal drew a Whitehall team playing its second playoff game while Watterson was opening its run.
Region 7’s other quarterfinals reshaped the bracket around the Eagles on the same night. New Albany ran past Canal Winchester 28-20 behind 297 rushing yards, Big Walnut stayed unbeaten with a 37-7 win over Louisville, and Massillon shut out Columbus DeSales 48-0 — results confirmed across the Dispatch, Mansfield and Zanesville scoreboards. Big Walnut and Massillon meet in one semifinal; Watterson draws New Albany in the other.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What is confirmed: the 36-6 final, verified by four independent score listings; Watterson’s 10-0 record and top-seed status; Whitehall-Yearling’s 9-3 finish; and the semifinal pairing with New Albany. What has not been published in the sources reviewed is a scoring summary or individual statistics from Friday’s game — no outlet in this reporting posted a play-by-play, a box score or postgame quotes from either coaching staff, so none are reported here rather than filled in from assumption.
Waiting on: the OHSAA’s official bracket update and any injury or availability news from either camp ahead of the semifinal. Neither school had posted additional game information as of Saturday morning.
What happens next is one of the state’s marquee regional semifinals: Watterson meets New Albany on Friday, Nov. 13, at Ohio Dominican, according to The Columbus Dispatch’s quarterfinal takeaways. New Albany (9-2) brings a ground game that produced 297 rushing yards against Canal Winchester, while Watterson brings an unbeaten record, a bye week’s worth of rest now shaken off, and a defense that spent October pitching shutouts.
The winner advances to the Region 7 final on Nov. 20, one win from the state semifinals. For Whitehall-Yearling, a nine-win season and a playoff victory close with a loss to the region’s standard-bearer. For Watterson, the defense of its place atop Region 7 now runs through the Eagles of New Albany — the team that spent Friday night running through everyone in its path.
Photo: FunksBrother, CC BY-SA 4.0 — Bishop Watterson High School in Columbus, with the school sign at left.