![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/TNH-L-HFB-North-South-1016-11.jpg\")
The North footall team will be looking for its first-ever playoff victory when it hosts Brush on Oct. 20. (Tim Phillis\/For The News-Herald)<\/p>\nLook no further than Northeast Ohio for one of \u2014 if not the \u2014 most difficult region for teams to navigate with the high school football state playoffs beginning Oct. 30.<\/p>\n
In Division II, Region 5 might be it. That\u2019s because the strength of the teams from top to bottom is there. There\u2019s also plenty of storylines and questions.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s up is down, and what\u2019s down is up. Predicting which team will be Region 5 champion is a crapshoot.<\/p>\n
If a Week 1 result was a preview of anything in Region 5, it was Walsh Jesuit\u2019s 34-0 shutout of Medina Highland, one of the programs that was reassigned from Region 6.<\/p>\n
Highland then turned it around, won nine straight and finished ahead of the Warriors as the No. 1-rated team in the region.<\/p>\n
Other notable new entries in Region 5 were Wadsworth, with Brysen Hall \u2014 one of Ohio\u2019s top quarterback recruits \u2014 and Coach Jeff Rotsky\u2019s VASJ Vikings.<\/p>\n
Highland won the Suburban League\u2019s National Division. On the other side of the Suburban League, Mayfield won the American Division and is the only 10-0 team in Region 5.<\/p>\n
As for Coach Nick Alexander\u2019s Walsh Jesuit team, it finished 8-2 with shutout losses to Akron Hoban and Columbus Watterson, the favorite to the D-II state championship out of Region 7, another rugged bracket of teams that features Massillon and defending Region 7 champion Big Walnut.<\/p>\n
There have also been changes at the top, as Highland and Walsh are starting different QBs.<\/p>\n
Then there is Akron Hoban, which enters the playoffs at 3-6 (3-5, according to the Ohio High School Athletic Association because the Knights played NFL Academy Europe).<\/p>\n
Hoban\u2019s schedule featured just three Ohio opponents in Walsh Jesuit, St. Edward and Glenville, going 1-2. The rest were out-of-state competition against strong opponents. That resulted in just three victories and the No. 10 seed in Region 5.<\/p>\n
Anyone looking for an X-factor team in the region, Hoban might be it.<\/p>\n
Rotsky understands that as he prepares his No. 7 seed Vikings for a marquee matchup against the Knights Oct. 30.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re excited to be here,\u201d said Rotsky. \u201cHoban, they\u2019re tremendous. But we\u2019re pretty good, and our kids believe they can compete with anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rotsky believes his team is battle-tested after a demanding schedule that included games at 10-0 Sandsuky Perkins (a 44-41 loss in two overtimes), at 9-1 and fellow Region 5 member Nordonia (a 41-39 loss), plus wins over 7-3 Columbus DeSales and 8-2 Garfield Heights.<\/p>\n
Scheduling for VASJ, an independent, isn\u2019t easy. Rotsky would prefer to be a member of the North Coast Conference with the likes of Lake Catholic, NDCL and others.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to be in that league,\u201d said Rotsky. \u201cIt\u2019s just not right. For us, it\u2019s very hard to schedule. Why should our kids not have a chance to compete for a conference championship?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rotsky understands his team will unquestionably be the underdog vs. Hoban, whose QB is Major Cribbs, the son of former Browns player Josh Cribbs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is nobody in America who thinks we can win this football game,\u201d said Rotsky.<\/p>\n
Another son of a former Browns player, Kinzy Shea, whose father Aaron was a tight end for Cleveland, is now the QB at Walsh Jesuit after the starter went down with an injury.<\/p>\n
Shea is a freshman. But in the Warriors\u2019 last game at 7-2 Trotwood-Madison, he threw three TD passes in the first half of a 35-8 victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played Watterson. They\u2019re pretty good,\u201d said Alexander. \u201cWe played Hoban, they\u2019re pretty good as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked to sort the balance of power in Region 5, Alexander was like most.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just don\u2019t know,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s really tough to tell.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alexander added: \u201cWe did win the region last season. We like to think it goes through us.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Region 5, there\u2019s also No. 3 seed Nordonia (9-1), whose only loss is 23-21 to Highland.<\/p>\n
Area-wise, Mayfield (10-0) is the No. 4 seed, waiting for the winner of North Royalton-Wadsworth at Wildcat Stadium on Nov. 6. The Grizzlies will be big favorites in that 5 vs. 12 matchup.<\/p>\n
The North footall team will be looking for its first-ever playoff victory when it hosts Brush on Oct. 20. (Tim Phillis\/For The News-Herald)<\/p>\n
North (9-1) is the No. 6 seed and hosts No. 11 seed Brush as the Rangers look for their first-ever playoff victory.<\/p>\n
Not to be forgotten is what could be the most competitive matchup of the first round as No. 9 Brecksville-Broadview Heights brings its stingy defense to Lake County against Riverside\u2019s efficient offense in an 8 vs. 9 matchup.<\/p>\n
Is there a Cinderella run awaiting Mayfield, North or Riverside? Or will heavyweights Hoban, Walsh, VASJ, Highland, Nordonia or Wadsworth rule the region? Whatever happens, consider this:<\/p>\n
Walsh Jesuit awaits the winner of Hoban-VASJ for a Nov. 6 second-round game in Cuyahoga Falls. No matter what, two of those three teams will be eliminated before the regional semifinal round.<\/p>\n
Welcome to arguably the toughest region in Ohio.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegion 5 is the most competitive region in the state,\u201d said North coach Shawn Dodd. \u201cTremendous coaches, talented teams. Every team is capable of beating each other. There\u2019s no \u2018easy path.\u2019 Every team is well-coached, physical. You have to earn your way in, then grind your way through. It\u2019s a challenge but definitely exciting. It\u2019s how the playoffs should be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amen to that, Coach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Look no further than Northeast Ohio for one of \u2014 if not the \u2014 most difficult region for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1038960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[134745,7,3131,8519,929,39323,6,84,60734,128032,9,74019],"class_list":["post-1038959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl-playoffs","tag-brush-arcs","tag-football","tag-high-school-sports","tag-hs-football","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mayfield-wildcats","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-playoffs","tag-north-rangers","tag-riverside-beavers","tag-sports","tag-vasj-vikings"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117515739738949766","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1038959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1038959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1038959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1038960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1038959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1038959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1038959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}