CINCINNATI — The road to Canton starts tonight!
While Northern Kentucky teams wrap up the regular seasons, teams in Ohio and Indiana are playing their first games of the 2022 playoffs Friday night.
The game of the week was a Division I, Region 4, matchup between No. 9 seed St. Xavier and No. 8 Fairfield. Both teams won their regular-season finales, eager to start the postseason with a new perspective. It's also the first time the two teams had faced each other since the first round of the 2017 playoffs.
Fairfield struck first, with quarterback Talon Fisher scoring on a 51-yard run. The game was back and forth for most of the night, but St. X began to pull away. The Bombers won 42-28.
Nothing could go wrong for Moeller as they took on Hamilton — including a rogue punt. Hamilton's punt bounced the wrong way, leading a Moeller returner close enough to the end zone to scoop and score. Moeller won 39-14.
Moeller and St. X will get a GCL South rematch next week.
Colerain at Mason was delayed after a crash involving the school buses that were taking Colerain players to the game. When kickoff finally happened, Colerain scored first. Mason, though, would score 14 unanswered to win 14-7.
Elder cruised to a 49-7 win over visiting Middletown at the pit. Their next opponent will be Milford, who took out Western Hills 62-16.
Top-seeded Winton Woods easily beat No. 16 seed La Salle, 35-13. They'll play Ross, who knocked off eighth-ranked Northwest 41-7.
While 5-12 matchups are ones to look out for during March Madness, Withrow had no problem with Loveland. They won 44-7 and will face Kings next week.
Little Miami had the upset of the night, stunning No. 2 seed Xenia, 27-24. Anderson, the team they lost to in the regular season, is their next opponent.
In Division III play, Monroe routed Hughes, 52-15.
Cincinnati Country Day won their first playoff game in two decades, taking down Beaver Eastern 27-20. They've won nine straight.
In the final week of the regular season, Beechwood and Newport Central Catholic faced off in Northern Kentucky. Beechwood, the No. 1 team in Class 1A, won 26-9.
Find a full list of games and their scores below.
