WEST JEFFERSON, Ohio — The Waterford Wildcats went on the road Friday night, November 6, and came home with the biggest win of their season, upsetting No. 3 seed West Jefferson 21-14 in a Division VI, Region 23 regional quarterfinal in the Ohio High School Athletic Association football playoffs. The final score was reported by The Columbus Dispatch, the Zanesville Times Recorder, the Mansfield News Journal, The Ironton Tribune and High School On SI.
Waterford, the No. 6 seed in Region 23, improved to 10-2 on the season with the victory. West Jefferson, which had earned a first-round bye as one of the region’s top four seeds, finished its season at 9-2, according to the seedings and records published by the OHSAA. It was a one-score game on the road against a rested, higher-seeded opponent — exactly the kind of November test that separates a good season from a memorable one.
Few outside Washington County saw it coming. In The Columbus Dispatch’s predictions panel for the second round of the playoffs, only two of the panel’s ten members picked Waterford to win at West Jefferson, while the other eight sided with the Roughriders. The Wildcats instead won a low-scoring, defensive game the way they won all fall: they did just enough, and they gave up very little.
That defensive identity has been Waterford’s calling card all fall. According to the Ohio Prep Sports Media Association’s Week 10 notebook, the Wildcats allowed only six points in Tri-Valley Conference Hocking Division play all season, outscoring their league opponents 294-6, and their defense carried a string of 18 consecutive scoreless quarters into the regular-season finale. A unit that pitches shutouts in October gave itself a chance in November, and 14 points allowed on the road in a quarterfinal was right in character.
The Wildcats closed the regular season at 8-2 and claimed the outright TVC Hocking championship with a 65-6 win over Belpre, according to the OPSMA notebook. Senior running back Hayden Jones rushed for 193 yards and four touchdowns in that game, and quarterback Avery Pottmeyer completed nine of ten passes for 193 yards and three touchdowns, the notebook reported. MaxPreps recaps of the Wildcats’ late-season run tell the same story of dominance: a 68-0 win at Federal Hocking on October 9 and a 69-0 win at Trimble on October 16.
Waterford’s only two regular-season losses came against strong opposition. The Southern Ohio Sports Authority reported that Nelsonville-York edged the Wildcats 18-12 at Waterford in September, a game in which Pottmeyer threw for 133 yards and a touchdown and Jones ran for 92 yards and a score, according to SOSA’s stat book. The Southeast Ohio Preps final rankings noted that Waterford’s other loss came against Fort Frye, and that both defeats came against teams in its Top 8 — context that made the Wildcats a dangerous No. 6 seed when the bracket came out.
The playoffs opened at home on October 30, and Waterford wasted no time. The Wildcats routed No. 11 seed Berne Union 61-0 in the first round, a result reported by The Columbus Dispatch, before the bracket sent them on the road to face a West Jefferson team that had not played since the regular season ended. Friday’s 21-14 final showed two good teams trading a close game — and the road team making the plays that mattered at the end.
Elsewhere in Region 23 on Friday, top seed Hannibal River defeated Fredericktown 49-34, No. 7 seed Sugarcreek Garaway knocked off No. 2 seed Nelsonville-York 49-28, and No. 4 seed Woodsfield Monroe Central beat Newcomerstown 49-8, according to The Columbus Dispatch’s statewide scoreboard. The Garaway result carries a twist for Waterford: the Pirates eliminated the same Nelsonville-York team that handed the Wildcats one of their two losses back in September.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What is confirmed: Waterford won 21-14 at West Jefferson on Friday, November 6, in the Division VI, Region 23 quarterfinal, a score carried by at least five independent outlets. The Wildcats are 10-2, the Roughriders finished 9-2, and Waterford advances to the regional semifinal round. What is still outstanding: no outlet had published a full box score or individual statistics from Friday’s game as of Saturday morning, so scoring plays and player lines from the West Jefferson game will be added if official statistics become available.
What happens next is already set by the bracket. Regional semifinal games are played Friday, November 13, and under the OHSAA’s format the better-seeded team hosts through the first three rounds of the playoffs. As the No. 6 seed, Waterford will host No. 7 seed Garaway in Waterford on November 13, with a trip to the Region 23 final on the line. The other semifinal sends Monroe Central to Hannibal River, and the regional finals follow on November 20 at neutral sites, according to the OHSAA.
For a Washington County community that watched its team outscore its league 294-6, Friday night offered a different kind of proof. The Wildcats did not need a blowout this time. They needed one more score than a 9-1 team on its own field — and they got it, keeping a championship season alive for at least one more week in front of their own fans.