Mogadore's Conner Lehner runs against United's M'Kyan Haynes (left) and Braden Schwartz in a Division VI playoff opener Friday. (Morning Journal/Ron Firth)

HANOVERTON — The seeding might have had Mogadore 12th, but the weight of the Wildcats’ historical success in the playoffs had its impact as Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference champion United bowed out of the Div. VI playoffs with a 27-13 loss on Friday at United Local High School.

The Wildcats (6-5) pulled to over .500 for the first time this season. Dogged by a bunch of season ending injuries at the beginning of the season, Mogadore rebounded from an 0-3 start after going to the regional final in 2023.

“That’s why they’ve made the playoffs 26 straight years,” United coach D.J. Ogilvie said. “That’s a great program and they play a tough schedule. They are very physical and my hats off to them and a lot of respect to that football program.”

Mogadore has qualified for the playoffs 38 times since 1979 and has won 17 regional championships and three state titles. It has only exited in the first round three times and has not bowed out in the first week of the playoffs since 2011.

Columbiana County schools dropped to 0-6 all-time against Mogadore with five of those losses in the playoffs.

“These kids have had great heart and they’ve believed in one another,” Mogadore coach Matt Adorni said. “There was no quit even in the fights we lost against Warren JFK and Canton Central Catholic. It’s hard to keep the spirit and we had to play to get in last week. We had some good momentum and we were excited to come down here.”

The Wildcats will travel to No. 4 seed Columbia Station Columbia on Friday for a Div. VI, Region 21 second round game. Columbia beat Rittman 49-7 on Friday.

Mogadore came out swinging and scored on their first drive thanks to a steady diet of running backs Aaron Rumschlag and Conner Lehner. Rumschlag’s 17-yard run with 9:09 left in the first quarter made it 7-0.

Rumschlag added a 1-yard touchdown run with 8:59 left in the second quarter to extend the lead to 14-0.

With United only accounting for 87 yards of total offense in the first half to Mogadore’s 231, the Golden Eagles (9-2) could sense that the Wildcats were pulling away.

“They came out and did some things that they had not shown in those first couple of series,” Ogilvie said. “We had to adjust and we adjusted well.”

Nick Stephenson’s 23-yard catch from Karson Jaber off play action with 3:11 left in the second quarter sent the Wildcats up 21-0 and it looked like the end was near for United.

Driving late in the first half, Mogadore’s Jaber left a pass hanging in the air toward the sideline and United’s Parker Newburn picked the ball off and raced 85 yards to give the Eagles life with 58 second left until halftime.

“The avalanche was getting there but Parker made the play like he had all year,” Ogilvie said. “He’s a tremendous young man and a tremendous football player. I’m very proud of his season this year.”

Adorni said he felt bad calling that play that let United back in the game.

“I wanted to fire myself,” Adorni said. “We took a shot and the shot was open but he went to the flat and (Newburn) did a great job of baiting him on it and jumped in front of it. That stuff sank us earlier in the year and we bounced back from that tonight.”

United got the ball first in the second half and did manage to get into Wildcat territory twice in the the third quarter but could not come away with points.

“We moved the ball at times, but not consistently and they came through when they needed stops,” Ogilvie said.

Mogadore put the game away on a 12-yard Rumschlag run with 9:53 left in the fourth quarter to put the game at 27-7.

Rumschlag ended up with 155 yards rushing on 21 carries.

United’s M’Kyan Haynes had a 1-yard touchdown run with 23 seconds left in the game.

The loss was a difficult one for the Eagles who have won 25 straight regular season home games, but when it comes to the playoffs the Eagles are 1-4 at home and have been outscored 117-58 during that stretch since 2020.

“It’s the playoffs,” Ogilvie said. “You get everybody’s best shot every week. That’s the next step for our program. We’ve been in it five years in a row and we have to try to go toe-to-toe with some of the tougher guys in this region and win some.”

Game notes

• Mogadore’s style is very simple, yet very effective. It reminded Ogilvie of Kirtland.

“The coach told me before the game ‘This could have been played in 1998 because we just run the ball and we’re physical’,” Ogilvie said.

• It was yet another playoff dud for the EOAC as the league went 0-4.

• Ogilvie was proud of his senior class — Trent Ellyson, Logan Wood, Parker Newburn, Kollyn Wells and Zac Figley — for what they accomplished over their careers.

“This senior class in the regular season was 34-4,” Ogilvie said. “That’s amazing. Hats off to them and all the respect for them for doing that. They’re great kids and I’m proud of them.”

MOGADORE: 7-14-0-6–27

UNITED: 0- 7-0-6–13

SCORING

M–Aaron Rumschlag 17 run (Ben Holler kick)

M–Rumschlag 1 run (Holler kick)

M–Nick Stephenson 23 pass from Karson Jaber (Holler kick)

U–Parker Newburn 85 interception return (Zac Figley kick)

M–Rumschlag 12 run (kick failed)

U–M’Kyan Haynes 1 run (kick failed)

——

M U

First downs 20 12

Total Yards 358 203

Rushes-yards 53-319 32-104

Passing 36 99

Comp-Att-Int 2-4-1 7-17-0

Punts 3-39 2-48

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-1

Penalties-Yards 5-45 2-30

——

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING–Mogadore, Aaron Rumschlag 21-155, Conner Lehner 22-129; United, Parker Newburn 14-49, Thomas Brown 6-28.

PASSING–Mogadore, Karon Jaber 2-4-36-1; United, Parker Newburn 6-17-98-0, Thomas Brown 1-1-1-0.

RECEIVING–Mogadore, Nick Stephenson 2-36; United, Quentin Taylor 5-94, Kota Shasteen 2-15, Newburn 1-1.

FUMBLE RECOVERIES–Mogadore, Trevor Hinkle.