Marion-area high school football: Week 11 playoff capsules

MARION — The postseason is here. On Friday night, five of the Marion area's 10 high school football teams will be on the field for Week 11 and the opening round of regionals.

Two teams will be hosting on Friday night, both in OHSAA Division VI's Region 23. No. 4 seed Northmor (8-2) will play No. 13 Cole Grove Dawson-Bryant (4-6), while No. 5 Elgin will take on No. 12 Glouster Trimble (5-4).

Three will be on the road. In Division IV, Region 14, No. 11 River Valley (4-6) goes to No. 6 Van Wert (7-3), while in Division V, Region 18, No. 10 Pleasant (6-4) travels to No. 7 Eastwood (8-2), and No. 12 Highland (5-5) plays at No. 5 Liberty-Benton (9-1).

Here's a closer look at each matchup:

Check it out: High School Football in Marion: Complete coverage of the 2023 season

More: Ohio high school football: See the best performances in the state for Week 10

River Valley at Van Wert

• Scouting River Valley: The Vikings own the 13th toughest schedule in the state in Division IV, according to Drew Pasteur's Fantastic 50 high school football website. Seven of their opponents making the playoffs this year ... Three of RV's losses were by one score or less ... This is River Valley's 10th playoff appearance and fourth in a row ... They average 30.6 points per game and allow 31.9 ... Quarterback Chase Ebert led the area is passing with more than 2,000 yards, and linebacker Tyson Waddle paced the area with 166 tackles.

• Scouting Van Wert: The Cougars hold the seventh-toughest schedule in the state in D-IV; seven teams in the Western Buckeye League are playing in Week 11 ... Losses against 8-2 Celina and 6-4 St. Marys came by a combined five points ... Quarterback Brylan Parker led the WBL in rushing with more than 1,100 yards and he also threw for 1,400 ... Conner Campbell has 63 catches for 895 yards, and Keldyn Bill returned two kickoff for TDs ... The offense is No. 1 in the conference in scoring at 34.3 and second in yardage at 387 per game, but also allow 362 yards per game on defense ... The Cougars are 16-6 all-time in the playoffs, winning it all in 2020 and finishing as a state runner-up in 2000.

• Drew Pasteur's Prediction: Van Wert +23.

• Coachspeak: "They’re a spread team, and the quarterback is pretty athletic. He’s not the greatest passing quarterback, but is capable of making throws. He’s more of a runner," RV coach Matt Waddle said. "They’ve got some skill guys who are pretty good and can catch the football. Their running back is pretty good. Defensively, they’re sound. They’ll play a 3-front or a 4-front against us. They get to the football and will tackle well in space. I would say they’re very similar to Shelby but maybe not quite as explosive as Shelby."

Pleasant at Eastwood

• Scouting Pleasant: No area team has more postseason success than the Spartans, who are making their 27th playoff appearance after a 1-9 season in 2022 ... Pleasant won state championships in 1971, 1972, 1996 and 2002, was a state runner-up in 2001 ... Pleasant has the sixth-toughest schedule in Ohio in Division V ... The Spartans finished third with points allowed in the MOAC at 26.3, and the 254.1 average yards allowed were second-best in conference ... Quarterback Owen Lowry has accounted for more than 2,300 total yards, while Conner Smith and Jace Trachtenberg finished the regular season with 152 and 145 tackles each.

• Scouting Eastwood: The Eagles finished second in the Northern Buckeye Conference at 6-1 behind undefeated Oak Harbor, which beat them 35-21 ... Their other loss was to 6-4 Wauseon 14-7 ... Caiden Maize averages 8.6 yards per carry for 1,312 yards and 17 touchdowns, while Kadyn Donnell has 749 ground yards and 12 TDs ... Donnell has passed for 1,764 yards and 20 touchdowns to just four interceptions ... They have three receivers with more than 20 catches with Andre Lewis leading them with 45 for 784 yards and eight TDs ... Defensively they are led by Andrew Badenhop's 80 tackles, Paul Lautzenheiser's seven sacks and Wyatt Oestreich's four interceptions ... The two programs have met five times in the postseason with Pleasant winning three, but the Eagles beat them for the 2017 regional title 35-0, finishing as a state runner-up that season ... Eastwood has a streak of five playoff appearances in a row.

• Drew Pasteur's Prediction: Eastwood +18.

• Coachspeak: "They have a really good running back who is a physical downhill runner. He hits the hole and he’s trying to run people over. He’s not the type of guy who is going to dance and try to make moves. He runs hard," Pleasant coach C.J. Westler said. "Their quarterback is the same kind of runner. He’s a downhill kid. They’re pretty even in terms of which guy is running the ball. ... Defensively they’re very similar to us. They run a lot of the same coverages and defensive fronts. They remind me a lot of us. They’re a really solid team. They have a first-year coach as well. It will be a good matchup."

Highland at Liberty-Benton

• Scouting Highland: This will be a dozen playoff berths for the Scots and their fourth in a row ... Highland has the ninth-toughest strength of schedule in Division V; eight of its opponents made the playoffs ... The Scots started the season 4-1, but have lost four of their last five ... They like fast starts, scoring 116 points in the first quarter of games this season ... Dane Nauman again led the league in scoring (19 touchdowns) and rushing (1,439 yards), while Kadyn Reichenbach was second in the conference in reception yards with 842 ... Malin Fichtner, who also plays soccer, has kicked three field goals and 33 extra points ... Ladon Hayes has made 88 tackles, while Zach Church and Sam Hernandez both have picked off four passes.

• Scouting Liberty-Benton: The Eagles are making their 16th playoff appearance and hold a 23-15 record in the postseason, finishing as state runner-up in 2008 ... They won the Blanchard Valley Conference at 7-0; their only loss was to 8-2 Columbus Grove 24-14 ... They have played four Division VII schools and three Division VI opponents ... L-B's Mason Modd has completed 73 percent of his passes for nearly 2,000 yards with 26 touchdowns and three interceptions while adding 562 rushing yards ... Zach Elchert has scored 17 touchdowns and run for 674 yards, while Seth Elchert has 12 TDs and 62 receptions for 913 yards ... Brady Birkemeier had 100 tackles and 16 tackles for loss.

• Drew Pasteur's Prediction: Liberty-Benton +24.

• Coachspeak: "They’ve got an athletic quarterback who can run it and throw it," Highland coach Ty Stover said. "They have two receivers that are very dynamic. The most important thing for them offensively is their front five. They get after it. Their left side from center to left tackle are all seniors, and the right guard and right tackle are sophomores. They get after it. Defensively, they’re the same way. They don’t do anything real fancy defensively. They just play good, solid defense and tackle well. We know we’ll have our hands full."

Trimble at Elgin

• Scouting Elgin: This will be Elgin's seventh postseason run. The Comets hold a 2-6 record in the playoffs, last winning a game in 2020 ... Elgin is a run-first team as Quentin Harrison eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark, and Stephen Castillo-Carey has more than 600 yards, while Brody Wood and Kaiden Luikart are approaching 500 yards and Ronnie Newman 400 yards ... The Comets have scored at least 50 points in five games ... Wood showed an ability to pass in the clutch in the final five minutes of a come-from-behind 26-21 victory over Hardin-Northern in Week 10 as he threw two touchdowns passes to close it out ... Elgin's defense is led by Landon Shepard's 94 tackles and 29 tackles for loss, while Nels VanGundy has been a game-wrecker with 30 of his 52 tackles being for loss, including an area-best 14 sacks.

• Scouting Trimble: The Tomcats are an Athens County juggernaut having made 19 playoff trips with 12 in a row before being snapped last year ... They were state runners-up in 2013 and 2018 ... Three of their losses came to teams with 9-1 records ... Last year was the first time in 20 seasons that they finished below .500 ... Xavier Cunningham has reached 1,000 yards rushing, and Brady Jajczyk is another running threat.

• Drew Pasteur's Prediction: Trimble +4.

• Coachspeak: "They’ve got a rich playoff history, and they’re used to winning. They expect to win. They’ve got to make the bus ride up here though. That’s nice for a change," Elgin coach Zack Winslow said. "Schematically they remind me of Upper Scioto Valley because they run the bone and run the I, the Maryland I, the T. Their skill set is probably more similar to Hardin-Northern. They’re a little smaller, but faster running backs vs. USV which has a big bruiser type of back."

Dawson-Bryant at Northmor

• Scouting Northmor: Northmor is the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference runner-up ... Before 2017, Northmor had never been to the playoffs in football, this is now its seventh straight postseason trip. ... Quarterback A.J. Bower is 15 yards away from 2,000 for the season with 29 touchdown passes and just seven interceptions ... Carson Campbell is 94 yards from 1,000 on the ground ... Jax Wenger and Bo Landin have combined for 23 touchdown receptions ... Opponents are averaging just 227 yards of total offense ... Caleb Schnuerer paces them with 68 tackles, plus four field goals and 45 extra points as a kicker ... Hunter Fulk and Paul Cramer have teamed for 11 interceptions this year.

• Scouting Dawson-Bryant: Coal Grove is near the Ohio River in extreme southern Ohio, so it will be a long bus ride for the Hornets ... Dawson-Bryant won four of its first five, but is now riding a five-game losing streak ... Two of those losses were to 9-1 teams and another to an 8-2 squad ... Nine of their 10 opponents are in larger divisions ... This is their fourth straight playoff appearance and 15th in school history, holding a 12-14 all-time mark ... Whyatt Mannon has thrown for 539 yards, but Dawson-Bryant runs the ball roughly 90 percent of the time with double tight ends ... Kaden Murphy has 1,241 rushing yards for an average of six yards per carry with 17 touchdowns and two others have more than 300 yards each ... Devin Bloomfield and Joey Scarberry lead them with 67 tackles each as the defense uses multiple fronts and blitz packages.

• Drew Pasteur's Prediction: Northmor +23.

• Coachspeak: "They are one of the biggest teams we’ve seen all year. They really compare to Danville up front and maybe a little bigger. They have a lot of speed behind that. They’ve got a running back with tremendous breakaway speed from the line of scrimmage," Northmor coach Scott Armrose said. "This is a football team that wins games early, then they get into league play and play teams like Ironton and lose some games because it’s so tough. They typically are able to win playoff games. It’s a tough matchup for us."

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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Marion-area OHSAA football playoffs: Week 11 preview information