Fort Loramie and Minster opened the season against each other way back on Aug. 28. Now they will open the postseason against each other.
Minster, in Division 7 this season after winning the D-6 crown last year, finished as the no. 1 seed in Region 26, and by doing so, is matched up against the No. 8 team in the region, the Fort Loramie Redskins, who lost their first four games before going on a six-game winning streak to end the regular season and earn another postseason berth.
When the two teams met back in August, Minster came away with a 41-7 win at home. The two will tee it up again at Minster Friday night at 7:30 in first-round regional action.
Meanwhile, the Lehman Cavaliers also turned around their fortunes to reach postseason play. After starting out 1-3, the Cavaliers closed with five wins in their last six games — the only loss in that stretch being to Fort Loramie — to also finish 6-4 and earn a postseason spot. They will travel to Covington Friday night for a 7:30 first-round game.
The Riverside Pirates, whose only loss was to Lehman, finished 9-1 and in fourth place in the region, thereby earning a home game. They will play Ada Friday night in Region 26 action.
Friday night:
Sidney-Greenville
Sidney was hoping to close its season with a 7-3 mark, but the Jackets were too much in a giving mood. They turned the ball over four times in a 13-12 loss to Greenville to end the season at 6-4.
Freshman quarterback Andre Gordon was 16-for-24 for 258 yards, a touchdown and an interception, and also led the Jackets in rushing with 84 yards. Isaiah Bowser had 67 yards to finish with 910 yards rushing for the season. Gordon finished with 868. Conor Beer added 54 yards rushing against Greenville.
Darryl McNeal caught seven passes for 128 yards Friday night and finished the season with 52 receptions for 572 yards this season.
The Jackets came close to doubling up Greenville in total yards, 463-238, but couldn’t overcome the turnovers.
Javon Purk was outstanding on defense, with five solo tackles and a fumble recovery.
Lehman-WG
Lehman clobbered winless Waynesfield Goshen 56-21 to finish with a 6-4 regular season mark.
The Cavs rolled to a 42-13 lead at the half and increased it to 56-13 after three periods.
Stephen Monnin was 8-for-12 for 136 yards and also had 103 yards rushing on 10 carries. Jacob Earhart had 140 yards rushing on 10 carries as the Cavs rolled up 416 yards in total offense against the Tigers.
Monnin finished the regular season with 1,304 passing yards and 17 touchdowns on 93 of 198 attempts. He also had 915 yards rushing.
His favorite targets were Dylan Arnold with 39 catches for 557 yards and Brandon Barhorst with 35 for 472.
Earhart finished with 973 yards rushing for the season.
Loramie-Perry
Fort Loramie fell behind 6-0 at Lima Perry Friday, but then pulled away to its sixth straight win, 41-6, to not only get into the postseason, but also get veteran head coach Whit Parks his 200th career coaching win.
Senior quarterback Drew Wehrman had 104 yards rushing and scored three touchdowns, one on a 56-yard run, and freshman Carter Mescher had 85 yards rushing and scored two touchdowns. Brad Pleiman scored the final touchdown for the Redskins.
Mescher finished the regular season with 631 yards rushing, and Mescher with 390 in just five games after being pressed into duty because of an injury.
The Loramie defense gave up the early score, but when it was over, the Redskins had held Perry to just 200 total yards.
Wehrman had an interception and Frank Meyer a fumble recovery.
Nate Pleiman had four sacks for the Redskins, and he and Dan Berning led the way in tackles with eight each. Seven of Pleiman’s were solos.
Minster-Parkway
Minster rolled up a big halftime lead and went on to take care of Parkway in the regular-season finale 35-14 Friday night.
The Wildcats take an 8-2 mark into playoff action Friday at home against Fort Loramie.
Prolific quarterback Josh Nixon threw for 258 yards and four touchdowns to give him 2,039 yards for the season, with 22 touchdowns.
He threw TD passes of 6 and 27 yards to Jacob Dues, 45 yards to Bryce Schmiesing and 16 yards to Peter Ranly. The other score came on a two-yard run by Evan Huelsman, who had 53 yards rushing to lead the Wildcats.
