Special to the Journal/Jimmy Joe Savage A night view of Patterson Field is shown by a drone camera. East Liverpool will be the first No. 12 seed in the state to host a football playoff game on Friday as the Potters are set to take on West Holmes.

The East Liverpool football team hit the jackpot in landing a long shot Div. VI, Region 15 second round home game.

The odds that a No. 12 and No. 13 seed would win together on the same night were 2 percent.

Well, the No. 12 seed Potters took care of business by beating No. 5 Columbus East 41-40 last Friday on the road.

Over near Chillicothe, the No. 4 seed Unioto lost to No. 13 seed Millersburg West Holmes 28-21.

Now the 7-4 Potters will host the 6-5 Knights at 7 p.m. on Friday at Patterson Field.

“Honestly when we found out it was super exciting,” Cusick said. “It was very surprising. We kind of got lucky and it fell into place. Our guys were playing hard all year and good things were bound to happen eventually.”

East Liverpool is the first No. 12 seed to host a game under the 16-team playoff format started in 2021. It is not mathematically possible for any lower seeds to host a second round playoff game.

“When you were looking at the seeds, you thought if we win we were going to Chillicothe where that’s another half hour to an hour drive,” Cusick said. “West Holmes winning wasn’t surprising because they’re a good team. We did actually bring up us and West Holmes winning a couple times during the week, but never really thought about it more than that.”

No. 12 seeds are just 20-92 against No. 5 seeds in the four seasons of this playoff format. No. 13 seeds are just 19-93, but in Div. IV this season No. 13 seeds went 3-1.

Cusick said there were a few things already put away for the winter at Patterson Field, but all of it was minor things since the Potters are still practicing there.

“I’ll just have to get out the pylons and markers and all that kind of stuff,” Cusick said.

The last time the Potter seniors left the field against Oak Glen they participated in a senior walk. That won’t be repeated against West Holmes.

“That’s over and done with,” Cusick said. “Now it’s about surviving and advancing.”

This is the first meeting between West Holmes and East Liverpool.

“They do a good job of being pretty balanced,” Cusick said. “They throw the ball really well and they are very consistent with what they do. You have to be able to stop the quick passing game and you have to be able to stop the counter trey in the run game. We have to play disciplined and better on defense than we did last week. That’s the one thing we have to shore up.”

Notes

¯ East Liverpool never played Columbus East in football before last Friday, but the two schools have a previous relationship in other sports

In the 1969 Class AA state title game East defeated East Liverpool 2-1.

There was also a basketball meeting between the two schools in the 1968-69 school year, where East won 63-37 at the Memorial Auditorium.

¯ Cusick said the hospitality Columbus East showed was excellent and he was very complimentary toward the school.

“Everyone in that community was very gracious toward us,” Cusick said. “After the game they were very congratulatory and they just wished us best of luck and wanted us to keep advancing. Afterwards our kids and their kids just hung out and talked. There was a lot of sportsmanship on both sides.

¯West Holmes is ranked as the fifth best team in Region 15 by the web site Drew Pasteur’s Fantastic 50 which analyzes results from all schools in Ohio. East Liverpool is ranked 14th. Fantastic 50 predicts West Holmes to win by 21. Last week, the web site predicted East Liverpool to win by four over Columbus East.