2021 Features

The new-look Buckeye State prep football playoffs are just a week away. With the playoffs going from 224 teams to 448 this year, the final week of the regular season this year holds extra significance for more teams around the state.
In April, the OHSAA board of directors voted to expand the playoffs from a dozen teams per region to 16 per region.
The move doubled the amount of playoff teams from the traditional eight per region that started in 1999.
Higher seeded teams will host playoff games the first two rounds before regional semifinals and regional finals are played at neutral locations.
Each of the 28 regions in the state will be bracketed like the NCAA basketball tournament with the following first-round matchups: 16 at 1, 15 at 2, 14 at 3, 13 at 4, 12 at 5, 11 at 6, 10 at 7 and 9 at 8.
Here is a look at each of the area regions going into the regular season finales:

The homestretch of the high school football season is upon us.
Just four weeks remain before the top 16 teams from each of Ohio’s 26 regions duke it out for state championship glory in the playoffs.
While the new playoff format is a conversation for another day, conference championship races will heat up and be decided over the final month of the regular season.
As we head into week 7, here’s a look at the conference’s covered by Black Swamp Football, with a prediction on each conference’s champion.