COLUMBUS — The Ohio High School Athletic Association has announced the football regions and schedule format for the 2017 playoffs. New in 2017, all playoff games during the first four rounds will be played on Friday nights. Also announced was the format for the state championship games, which will be played at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton Nov. 30 through Dec. 2.
The new regions and playoffs format were approved last Thursday by the OHSAA Board of Directors at their June meeting as part of the 2017 football tournament regulations. New divisions were announced on April 6.
“For a few years now we have studied the possibility of moving all playoff games to Friday nights for the first four rounds,” OHSAA Assistant Commissioner Beau Rugg said. “Due to so many more college football games being played on Saturday nights, attendance at our Saturday playoff games has steadily declined, and more potential playoff sites have said they cannot host games on Saturdays. We now have enough playoff sites to handle all the games on one night, and the football coaches association was in support of this change, too, because teams will get to stay on their normal weekly schedule of playing on Friday night.”
2017 Football Region and
Division Assignments:
Region 1
Cleveland St. Ignatius
Lakewood St. Edward
Cleveland Rhodes
Berea-Midpark
Cleveland John Marshall
Strongsville
Euclid
Shake Heights
Solon
Cleveland Heights
Mentor
Austintown-Fitch
Canton McKinley
Massillon Jackson
Canton GlenOak
Massillon Perry
Stow Monroe Falls
Region 2
Olentangy Liberty
Olentangy Orange
Westerville Central
Olentangy
Delaware Hayes
Gahanna Lincoln
Dublin Coffman
Upper Arlington
Thomas Worthington
Findlay
Newark
Lorain
Elyria
Whitmer
Toledo Start
Brunswick
Medina
Marysville
Dublin Jerome
Region 3
Springfield
Lancaster
Pickerington Central
Pickerington North
Reynoldsburg
Grove City
Westland
Hilliard Davidson
Hilliard Bradley
Groveport-Madison
Hilliard Darby
Central Crossing
Beavercreek
Centerville
Kettering Fairmont
Wayne
Clayton Northmont
Miamisburg
Region 4
Fairfield
Lakota East
Hamilton
Lakota West
Middletown
Milford
St Xavier
Archbishop Moeller
Oak Hills
Elder
Colerain
Walnut Hills
Western Hills
Princeton
Sycamore
Mason
Springboro
Lebanon
2017 OHSAA Football Schedule
Monday, July 31 – Practice begins (mandatory 5-day acclimatization period)
Monday, Aug. 21 – Regular season begins (719 schools playing football in 2017)
Tuesday, Sept. 19 – Weekly computer point releases begin
Saturday, Oct. 28 – Regular season ends
Sunday, Oct. 29 – Final computer points and playoff qualifiers announced (224 total qualifiers)
Friday, Nov. 3 – Regional quarterfinals played at higher seed, 7:30 p.m. (112 games)
Friday, Nov. 10 – Regional semifinals played at neutral sites, 7:30 p.m. (56 games)
Friday, Nov. 17 – Regional finals played at neutral sites, 7:30 p.m. (28 games)
Friday, Nov. 24 – State semifinals played at neutral sites, 7:30 p.m. (14 games)
State Championship Games at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, Canton
Championship game time assignments will be announced Saturday, Nov. 25
Thursday, Nov. 30 – Division I, II, V or VII, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 1 – Division I, II, V or VII, Game times at 10 a.m., 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 2 – Division III, IV or VI, Game times at 10 a.m., 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.
