Editor's Note: Shortened due to the constraints of time.
The playoff format for high school football teams in Ohio is quite simple.
The top 16 teams in each division make the playoffs.
The first two games are home games for the higher ranked teams.
Then every game until the State Finals in Canton are at neutral sites.
In Division II, Avon and Akron Archbishop Hoban have met in the state semifinals 6 of the last 8 years.
Avon has been the Division 6 Regional Champion in 7 of the last 8 years.
Here are the 6 games, usually played the day after Thanksgiving from the Avon perspective.
2017 - Lost 30-6 at Brunswick
2018 - Lost 41-7 at Brunswick
2019 - Didn't meet in playoffs
2020 - Lost 28-14 at Parma
2021 - Lost 30-24 at Parma
2022 - Didn't meet in playoffs
2023 - Lost 17-14 at Parma
2024 - Game is Friday: Avon vs. Akron Archbishop Hoban at Akron
If you look at the yellow arrows on the map, both Parma and Brunswick were neutral fields.
If you look where Akron and Avon are on the map, you can clearly see that an Akron state semifinal game in Akron is not a neutral field.
The OHSAA would argue they wanted a college sized stadium? Where the blue star is located is Division III John Carroll, that would have been neutral. Finnie Stadium, home of the Division III. Baldwin-Wallace College Yellowjackets in Berea would have been neutral. Hell, they could have played in Cleveland Browns stadium on the lakeshore, that would have been neutral.
There were literally a dozen Division I high school fields that could have hosted the game around the yellow arrows.
I don't want to hear the OHSAA's excuses, I want an apology from an agency that should be very aware of what a map looks like.
Again, I will say it slowly for the OHSAA...
Akron...
at Akron...
is not neutral.
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