Magazine Special Feature/Jimmy Joe Savage A drone camera captures the night view of Patterson Field. East Liverpool will become the first No. 12 seed in the state to host a football playoff game on Friday, as the Potters take on West Holmes.
The East Liverpool football team hit the jackpot with long shots in Division 1. VI, Region 15 second round home game.
The 12th and 13th seeds had a 2 percent chance of winning together on the same night.
Well, the 12th-seeded Potters got the job done, defeating No. 5 Columbus East 41-40 on the road last Friday.
Near Chillicothe, fourth-seeded Unioto lost 28-21 to No. 13 Millersburg West Holmes.
Moving forward, the 7-4 Potters will host the 6-5 Knights at Patterson Field on Friday at 7 p.m.
“Honestly, I was so excited when I found out about it.” Cusick said. “I was very surprised. We were lucky in a way that it worked out for us. Our players played hard all year long, so good things should happen in the end.”
East Liverpool is the first No. 12 seed to host games in a 16-team playoff format that began in 2021. It is mathematically impossible for a lower seed to host a second round playoff game.
“I guess looking at the seeding, if we won, we would go to Chillicothe, which is another 30 minutes to an hour drive.” Cusick said. “West Holmes is a good team, so the win wasn’t a surprise. In fact, we had talked about us and West Holmes winning a few times during the week, but it was more than that. I never thought about it.”
In four seasons of this playoff format, No. 12 seeds are just 20-92 against No. 5 seeds. The No. 13 seed is just 19-93, but 19-93 in the division. The No. 13 seed is 3-1 this season.
Cusick said some preparations have already been made for the winter at Patterson Field, but they are all minor since the Potters are still practicing there.
“We need to remove all the pylons, markers, etc.” Cusick said.
The last time Potter’s seniors left the field against Oak Glen, they participated in the Senior Walk. That won’t be repeated against West Holmes.
“It’s over, it’s over.” Cusick said. “Now it’s about surviving and moving forward.”
This will be the first meeting between West Holmes and East Liverpool.
“They do a good job of being very balanced.” Cusick said. “They throw the ball really well and are very consistent in what they do. They have to be able to stop the quick passing game and in the run game they have to be able to stop the counter trey. . We have to play disciplined and be better defensively than we were last week. That’s the only thing we have to step up.”
Precautions
East Liverpool had never played Columbus East in football until last Friday, but the two schools have had a previous relationship in other sports.
East defeated East Liverpool 2-1 in the 1969 Class AA state title game.
There was also a basketball game between the two schools during the 1968-1969 school year, with East winning 63-37 at Memorial Auditorium.
Cusick said Columbus East’s hospitality has been great and they have been very positive about the school.
“Everyone in that community was so nice to us.” Cusick said. “After the game, they were so congratulatory and just wished us luck and wanted us to keep going. 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 Drew Pasteur’s Fantastic 50, a website that analyzes the results of every school in Ohio. East Liverpool is 14th. Fantastic 50 predicts West Holmes to win by 21 points. Last week, the website predicted East Liverpool would beat Columbus East by four points.
