Six high school football teams in the Akron Beacon Journal coverage area will play regional semifinal playoff games at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Two of the games feature schools from Akron, with East traveling to Canal Fulton to play New Philadelphia and Archbishop Hoban and St. Vincent-St. Mary meeting at the University of Akron’s InfoCision Stadium.
• Division III, Region 9 — East (8-3) vs. New Philadelphia (9-2) at Northwest. City Series champion East made its playoff debut last week and defeated top seed and undefeated Marlington on the road.
The Dragons rely on the run offensively, and are led by tailbacks Jemarulin Suggs and Devanier Floyd and linemen Kendrick Buckley and Ramon Fields. East’s top three defensive players are De’Andre Brimage, Marquess Callaway and Kerriyyon Somerville.
• Division III, Region 9 — Hoban (10-1) vs. St. Vincent-St. Mary (7-4) at UA. Catholic school rivals Hoban and St. V-M meet for the second time this season after playing twice last year. Hoban has won the past three matchups, which is sure to fire up St. V-M.
Last week, Hoban beat visiting Warren Howland and St. V-M topped host Dover. The Knights feature Nolan Rumler, Todd Sibley, Grant Kersh, Danny Clark and RJ Kelly offensively, and Jabari Taylor, Arison Sanders, Daeshon Martin and William Collier defensively. The best part of the Irish is their defense, with Brandon Bischof, Justin Sampson, Scott Walter, Eric Bentley and Leonard Younger leading the charge. St. V-M’s offense has improved with better blocking and the emergence of tailback Myles Williams.
• Division V, Region 17 — Garrettsville (8-3) vs. Leavittsburg LaBrae (8-3) at Niles McKinley. Garrettsville made its playoff debut last week and beat host South Range with Seth Morgan returning both an interception and a kickoff for touchdowns. Quarterback Dalton Fall is another key player for the G-Men along with Tommy Bissler, Kyle Borrelli, Anthony DeNigris, Dalton Michael, Zach Gorby and Zayne Veon.
• Division V, Region 17 — Canton Central Catholic (7-3) vs. Black River (8-3) at Orrville. The Crusaders, who snapped visiting Manchester’s seven-game winning streak last week, are led by linebacker Griffin Baumoel and quarterback Jack Murphy. Dan Mills is a solid kicker, and James Wills, Jaret Cummins, Tee Rupp are other CCC players to watch.
• Division V, Region 18 — Norwayne (10-1) vs. Swanton (10-1) at Clyde. Norwayne beat visiting Genoa Area last week for its ninth win in a row. Elmer Zollinger is an efficient quarterback for Norwayne, and he’s surrounded by talented playmakers Nate Weinman and Brevin Harris. Jacob Sattelmaier, Chase Gasser and Zach Steiner are the Bobcats’ top three defensive players.
• Division VII, Region 25 — Mogadore (9-2) vs. Warren John F. Kennedy (10-1) at Salem. Mogadore is accustomed to deep runs in the playoffs, and looked great last week in its opening-round win over visiting Jackson-Milton. Two-way starters Austin Williams, Jarad Dunn and Kole Jaber lead this year’s team. Seth Slabaugh, Andrew Graska, Paul Skye, Andrew Popa and Cade Ambrose are also experienced players for the Wildcats.
Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com.