The regular season is 10 games long.

Monday, October 29, 2001

The regular season is 10 games long. The playoffs can be half as long if you win.

Playing an extra half season is fine with the Ironton Fighting Tigers and Chesapeake Panthers after qualifying for the Ohio High School Athletic Association postseason playoffs.

For Ironton, 10-0, its the 20th trip to the postseason, third most in state history. The Fighting Tigers finished first in Region 15 of Division IV and will host No. 8 Portsmouth West (9-1) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Tanks Memorial Stadium.

The Fighting Tigers have a 31-17 playoff record including state championships in 1979 and 1989. They have reached the title game eight times with six runners-up.

"Any time you can play at home is an added bonus, but it’s no guarantee you’re going to win," Ironton coach Bob Lutz said.

Ironton has met West twice in the playoffs. The Fighting Tigers won 30-8 in 1988 and then 41-8 in 1990 after losing 14-0 to West in the first game of the season. Ironton leads the series 3-1.

Chesapeake, 7-3, moved up to third place and will get a home game at 7:30 p.m. Friday against Crooksville (7-3). The Ceramics are coached by Doug Clifford, brother of Portsmouth head coach Curt Clifford.

"All the teams they lost to are all in the playoffs," Panthers coach Phil Davis said.

While Davis expected to be in the playoffs, the home game came as a surprise.

"Last year, if one team would have won, we would have been in. This time, we were looking for a couple of wins to get a home game. A couple of things happened and we moved up. We were kind of surprised. There were too many variables in there to figure what was going to happen. We picked up every win that was possible," said Davis.

The Panthers are making their fourth playoff trip. They have a 1-3 postseason record.

The top eight teams in each region of the six divisions qualify for the playoffs. The first round matches No. 1 vs. No. 8, No. 2 vs. No. 7, No. 3 vs. No. 6, and No. 4 vs. No. 5. The first four rated teams get home games.

Following Ironton were Licking Valley, Indian Valley, Portsmouth, New Lexington, Fairfield Union, Coshocton, and Portsmouth West.

Licking Valley will host Coshocton, Indian Valley entertains Fairfield Union, and New Lexington travels to Portsmouth.

The second round will match the Ironton-West winner against the Portsmouth-New Lexington winner, and the Licking Valley-Coshocton winner vs. the Indian Valley-Fairfield Union winner.

Chesapeake’s region had Amanda-Clearcreek (7-2) first followed by Woodsfield (8-2), Chesapeake, Shenandoah (7-3), Barnesville (8-2), Crooksville, Licking Heights (7-3), and Smithville (8-1).

Friday’s games have Smithville at Clearcreek, Barnesville at Shenandoah, and Licking Heights at Woodsfield.

In the second round, the Smithville-Clearcreek winner faces the Barnesville-Shenandoah winner while the Chesapeake-Crooksville winner plays the Licking Heights-Woodsfield winner.

Wheelersburg lost its last three games and finished 6-4 but still finished second in Region 20 of Division V. The Pirates host Cin. Reading at 7:30 p.m. Friday.