Coaches react to prep grid playoffs cutting back from 16 to 12 teams per region

NOTE: Sportswriter Bob Putman contributed to this story.

Changes are coming to the Ohio high school football scene in 2025.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) announced late this week that state playoff qualifiers from each region will shrink slightly from 16 teams to 12. The top four seeds in each region will receive first-round byes.

The OHSAA said the first three rounds of the postseason will be hosted by the higher-seeded team. Higher seeds hosted the first two rounds last season.

Football is the only sport governed by the OHSAA where a limited number of teams enter the playoffs.

The change for the 2025 campaign comes after the association sent out surveys seeking member schools to weigh in on the 16-team playoff format.

The OHSAA originally approved of a 12-team expansion in early 2020 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The public health crisis significantly affected Ohio’s sports scene, leading to the association allowing every football program into the playoffs.

Due to “the positive feedback” OHSAA received, the original plan to expand to 12 teams per region bumped up to 16, which occurred from 2021-24.

“For the last few years, we have been pleased that more schools experienced the football playoffs and there were some lower seeds that won playoff games,” OHSAA executive director Doug Ute stated in a press release. “But over the last year, we have received feedback from our schools, with a slight majority favoring 12 qualifiers per region, and we had many conversations with stakeholders around the state that led us to make this proposal to our board.”

Two local coaches participated in the association’s survey in mid-April of this year. Fairbanks head gridiron boss Dave Carroll was one of those who participated and chose the 12-team playoff format.

Fairbanks’ Evan Wiedmann (14) gets tackled by a pair of Jonathan Alder Pioneers during the 2024 fall season. Wiedmann is a junior who will be preparing for the 2025 campaign, a season in which the Ohio High School Athletic Association has scaled back the state playoffs to 12 (down from 16) teams in each region of each division that will qualify for the post-season.

(Journal-Tribune photo by Aleksei Pavloff)

“Being a coach as long as I have, we’ve seen a lot of changes through the years of the expansion,” he said, adding that he views the overall expansion of the sport is a good thing. “The more teams that get in, it is more exciting for the kids, the communities and the schools.”

While Carroll was optimistic about the OHSAA expanding the playoffs to 16 teams, there were some questions he still held.

Some regions experienced upsets with lower-seeded programs overtaking higher-seeded ones. But those were few and far between.

“We’ve all seen as it has unfolded, there were way more lopsided victories with those top seeds,” Carroll said, adding some of the 16th-seeded teams last season chose not to play.

Despite there being seven divisions and expanded playoff brackets, Carroll believes Ohio’s overall competitive atmosphere with football makes it a tall task to win a state title.

However, his demeanor is still the same as he waits to observe how the 12-team format will look.

“I’ve talked to some coaches about the week-one bye for those teams and some are for it.” he said. “There are also people who say, ‘I don’t want to go a two-week stretch without playing a game. I think it is a good thing and perhaps will be a better scenario than having 16.”

Carroll said he coached several teams that went 9-1 in the regular season, adding none of them made it to the playoffs.

He believes an expansion in playoff participation gives highly productive teams a chance to see what they can make of their postseason aspirations.

North Union head coach Nick Hajjar, who also participated in the survey, voted for 12 teams and feels that number is the right fit.

North Union’s Nickolas Hajjar (11) delivers a pass downfield during a regular season road game during the 2024 fall season. NU head coach Nick Hajjar likes the fact the state playoffs are being reduced to 12 teams per region, beginning with the 2025 campaign. 

(Journal-Tribune photo by Aleksei Pavloff)

“(Going to 12) was one of the things that has been talked about and I think 12 is the right number,” Hajjar said. “I don’t know if there is a perfect solution, but you try things and if it is not the best you take another route.”

Hajjar sees a double-edge sword when it comes to the top four teams getting a bye.

“It depends on where you are,” he said. “There would be teams that might need a week off because of injuries and other teams not wanting the break because they are on a roll.”

No matter if a team gets a bye week or has to play in the opening playoff round, there is only one thing on the minds of coaches and players.

“Getting to advance to the next line is what matters,” Hajjar said. “When you do that you are happy.”