Correspondent photo / David Dermer South Range’s Gaven Nagy runs the ball away from Struthers’ Adin Nicholas during the first half of their game, Friday night at South Range High School.

For a third straight year, Mahoning County will send at least nine teams to the second round of the Ohio High School Athletic Association football tournament.

Mahoning County schools went 9-4 in the first round of the playoffs. Teams advancing to regional quarterfinal play include: Austintown Fitch, Ursuline, West Branch, Struthers, South Range, Poland, Springfield, Western Reserve and Lowellville.

In 2022, the county sent 11 teams to the second round, one more than it did a year ago.

Trumbull County saw six of its schools bow out in first-round action, leaving Warren G. Harding, Girard and Warren John F. Kennedy still in the mix.

East Liverpool was the lone survivor among the five Columbiana County schools which qualified for postseason play.

Elsewhere, Garrettsville Garfield, Pymatuning Valley and Windham all are among the 224 schools statewide still vying for a state championship.

The second round of the tournament is set for Friday, when 112 games will be played throughout the state.

The second-round schedule will feature a pair of all-area matchups, both of which are also rematches from the regular season.

For the second time in three weeks, Warren G. Harding (8-3) will travel to Austintown Fitch (8-3). In the regular season finale, the Raiders downed the Falcons 35-21. In that game, Harding trailed 14-6 at halftime but rallied to outscore the Falcons 29-7 in the second half.

Harding and Fitch are meeting for the eighth time since 2020. The two teams are squaring off in the playoffs for the third time in five years.

Overall, the series has been incredibly close, both in the win column and in overall scoring. Fitch owns a slim 19-18 edge in wins. In the 37 meetings, Fitch has outscored Harding 738-723.

Northeast 8 Conference foes Girard (7-4) and South Range (11-0) met in Week 7 at Arrowhead Stadium, with South Range coming away with a 55-27 road win. Now, the Raiders will have home field advantage as they play host to the Indians.

South Range has won seven straight games against Girard since the two teams began meeting as league foes in 2019. In those six games, the Raiders are averaging 48.8 points per game.

South Range and Girard are two of four NE8 teams still in the playoffs.

Poland (9-2) will host Martins Ferry (10-1). The Purple Riders knocked Crestview out of the playoffs with a 48-41 win. Struthers (9-2) will travel to Perry (10-1). The Pirates’ lone loss was a 22-21 triple-overtime setback to Kirtland. The Pirates are averaging 46.9 points per game.

Ursuline (10-1) has won 10 straight games following its 44-14 opening-round win over Chaney. During that span, the Irish have won nine games by 27 or more points. The lone exception was a narrow 24-17 victory at Villa Angela-St. Joseph in Week 8.

The Irish and Vikings will meet again, this time at Stambaugh Stadium.

The 17 points scored by VASJ against Ursuline was its lowest output of the season. The Vikings average 43 points per game.

West Branch (11-0) will look to remain perfect when its hosts Glenville (8-3). The Tarblooders are the two-time defending Division IV state champions.

The Scarlet Tier of the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference will be represented by a trio of teams on Friday. Western Reserve (10-1) will host Cuyahoga Heights (6-4) while Springfield (9-2) will be home to Toronto (8-3). Lowellville (7-4) will travel for the second straight week when the Rockets play at Malvern (10-1).

After recording a home win against East Palestine, Warren John F. Kennedy (9-2) must now make a 120-mile trip to Huron County to take on Monroeville (10-1).

Monroeville finished two-tenths of a point ahead of JFK in region 25 to earn the home game. Monroeville has surrendered just 88 points through 11 games, and pitched five consecutive shutouts in Weeks 5 through 9. During that span, Monroe outscored opponents 268-0.

Like it was this past week, all second-round games will be played on Friday at the home field of the higher seeded teams.

Beginning next week, all tournament games will be played at neutral sites.