Wayne Allen | Daily Times

Valley’s Nate Arnett tries to avoid a plethora of Coal Grove defenders during Saturday’s Division V, Region 19 41-16 win over the Hornets. The No. 1 Indians have a rematch with No. 4 Bucyrus Wynford in Saturday’s semifinal action.

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Cody Leist

PDT Sports Writer

A pair of last year’s playoff rematches highlights this weekend’s regional semifinal postseason slate involving area teams.

In Friday’s Division IV, Region 15 Semifinals, No. 2 Ironton will try to avenge last year’s 34-7 loss to Johnstown-Monroe as the Fighting Tigers (7-3) and the No. 3 Johnnies (9-2) are set to clash at Athens High School. While on Saturday, No. 1 Valley (11-0) and No. 4 Bucyrus Wynford (9-2) face each other, a year after the Royals won the Region 19 Championship with a 54-48 overtime game. This game will be played at Reynoldsburg High School.

Also in Region 15, No. 5 Piketon (9-2) will look to make it back-to-back upsets as the Redstreaks — who defeated No. 4 Minford (8-3) 49-27 last Friday for their first playoff win in school history and also to avenge a 19-14 home loss in Week 3 action — will travel to Logan High School and take on top-seeded St. Clairsville (11-0), which defeated No. 8 Cadiz Harrison Central (7-4) 41-6. The other Region 19 semifinal contest is No. 2 Oak Hill (9-2) taking on No. 6 Baltimore Liberty Union (9-2) at Nelsonville-York High School.

Last Friday, Ironton defeated No. 7 Bloom-Carroll (5-6) 41-16 and Johnstown-Monroe advanced with a 24-21 win over No. 6 Gnadenhutten Indian Valley (6-5). In Saturday’s action, The Indians used a 27-point third quarter to defeat No. 8 Coal Grove (6-4) 41-16, the second time this season Valley defeated the Hornets when the two teams met in Lucasville.

The Oaks survived a 29-26 contest with No. 7 Jeromesville Hillsdale (7-4) while the Lions ended No. 3 Wheelersburg’s season at 8-3 with a 24-13 decision. Wynford shut out No. 5 Loudonville (8-3) 24-0.

Symmes Valley, the lone area Division VI, Region 23 team in this year’s playoffs, was eliminated in a 26-3 loss to No. 4 Zanesville Bishop Rosecrans (8-3). The No. 5 Vikings finished with an 8-3 mark.

All Friday contests leading up to the six state championships will have 7:30 p.m. kickoffs and Saturday games will have 7 p.m. starts. The remaining four weeks of action will take place at neutral sites.

Cody Leist can be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 294, or cleist@heartlandpublications.com.