OHSAA Region 1 (NE + NW) Playoff Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The OHSAA playoffs are right around the corner and we're going to be previewing all the playoff action around the state to get fans caught up on what to expect across the state. In this article we'll look at Region 1 which features two northeast districts and two northwest districts.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Northeast 5 District</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Saint Ignatius and Brecksville are the top seeds in this region and on a collision course to meet in the district finals. This would be a star-studded game with Ignatius having guys like [player_tooltip player_id='1222353' first='Ace' last='Buckner'], [player_tooltip player_id='1222357' first='Carter' last='Jackson'], [player_tooltip player_id='1432034' first='Damon' last='Friery'] and more while Brecksville is led by star duo [player_tooltip player_id='1148120' first='Luke' last='Skaljac'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1201865' first='Chase' last='Garito']. Berea-Midpark and Strongsville are sleepers on opposite sides of the district and the two teams met last night in a close contest. Both teams are capable of scoring the ball in bunches, which would help their chances of pulling off an upset or two in the playoffs.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>District title pick: Saint Ignatius over Brecksville</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Northeast 6 District</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This district is pretty deep with Garfield Heights as the favorite in the top side but the bottom features Avon Lake, Brunswick and Cleveland Heights. The bottom side of the bracket has some potential great matchups as Avon Lake won the southwest conference and has a deep team led by future Ohio University football player [player_tooltip player_id='1090156' first='Matthew' last='Stuewe']. Brunswick has an explosive offense with guys like [player_tooltip player_id='1708729' first='Tommy' last='Morgan'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1708688' first='Trey' last='Drexler'] leading the charge. I expect Cleveland Heights to advance to the district finals with a senior laden team with [player_tooltip player_id='1352455' first='Shemarion' last='Hardy'], [player_tooltip player_id='1494497' first='Rondelle' last='Pollard'], [player_tooltip player_id='1421391' first='Rayvelle' last='Duncan'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1711543' first='Jaeden' last='Lawson'].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>District title pick: Garfield Heights over Cleveland Heights</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Northwest 1</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The two northwest districts are the smallest in Division I and were seeded solely using the Martin RPI formula. Neither of the top 2 seeds decided to head to this district which makes it strong with depth. Perrysburg is the favorite on the top with senior [player_tooltip player_id='1477060' first='Matt' last='Watkins'] and the Hunt twins while Toledo St Francis will look to play spoiler. On the bottom it's Lima Senior and Northview who are the favorites. Lima Senior has dominated the northwest districts in the past few seasons, but Quincey Simpson has a young squad. [player_tooltip player_id='1183906' first='Ayden' last='Carter'] also might be the most talented player in the whole district, he'll look to pull off a round one upset against the Spartans. Perrysburg swept conference rival Northview in the regular season but I don't see a third meeting.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>District title pick: Perrysburg over Lima Sr</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Northwest 2</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This district has both of the top two seeds as Toledo Whitmer and Tiffin Columbian decided to go to the same district. This district is full of sleeper teams with talented seniors. [player_tooltip player_id='867941' first='CJ' last='Hornbeak'], [player_tooltip player_id='1340512' first='Jake' last='Bishop'], [player_tooltip player_id='922595' first='Romel' last='Hightower'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1164623' first='Stone' last='Edwards'] all have the ability to take over a game and none of them play for the top two seeds. I think Toledo Whitmer with their experience plus superstar Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='1432018' first='Antione' last='West Jr'] gets it done, but this district should be one of the most interesting ones to track in the state.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>District title pick: Toledo Whitmer over Findlay</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->