Who has edge?
When high school teams meet again in playoffs, it’s as much a chess match as a football game
“I’m not sure anybody gets an advantage going into a rematch. We’re both different teams now and the stakes are different.” Milan Smith Harvest Prep coach, on his team’s rematch against Academy, which defeated Harvest Prep 20-10 in Week 2
On the surface, preparing to face an opponent a second time in a high school football season seems simple enough: Watch the film, make adjustments and let the chips fall where they may.
But a lot of dynamics, especially from a psychological standpoint, come into play for a rematch in a playoff setting.
“I think it’s a real challenge, probably a bigger challenge than facing an opponent you aren’t familiar with,” Columbus Academy coach Robin Miller said before the Vikings’ Division V playoff game against Mid-state League Ohio Division rival Harvest Prep.
“You find yourself in a chess match of sorts. They know that we know this, so what’s the next move? Sometimes, you feel like you’re trying to outsmart yourself and you find yourself getting away from what’s truly important — blocking and tackling and executing what you do well.” h MORE COVERAGE: A preview of central Ohio high school football playoff games. 4C
Academy (6-1) beat Harvest Prep (6-1) 20-10 in Week 2.
“I’m not sure anybody gets an advantage going into a rematch,” Harvest Prep coach Milan Smith said. “We’re both different teams now and the stakes are different. I’m just tickled to get another opportunity not so much at redemption but to put our best on display, which didn’t happen the first time.”
This is just one of four intriguing rematches involving area teams in the third round of the playoffs.
Two occur in Division I, where Westerville Central (6-1) plays host to New Albany (5-3) and Dublin Coffman (8-0) entertains Olentangy Liberty (7-1).
Central won an Ohio Capital Conference Ohio Division meeting 42-7 three weeks ago. The Shamrocks downed the Patriots 24-17 in a nonleague game
Week 2.
“We’ve experienced quite a few of these rematch scenarios through the years, most notably with Hilliard Davidson, and I don’t think we ever approached them any differently than we would any other opponent,” Coffman coach Mark Crabtree said. “The outcome isn’t necessarily the same the second time around, but I think both teams just look at each game like the next step.”
Westerville Central is facing a second OCC Ohio rematch in a row (the Warhawks beat Upper Arlington 21-20 last week) and that concerns coach Brent Morrison a bit.
“Amazingly, last week’s game took the same course as the first game, but you don’t want the kids to get a false sense of perception that the same thing will happen against New Albany,” he said. “New Albany is coming off a huge win (44-20) over Pickerington North in which they avenged a pretty bad defeat the first time. We just emphasize to our kids, ‘Don’t focus on the past. The present is all that matters.’ ”
In Division III, Jonathan Alder (7-0) faces London (6-1) in a rematch of a Week 6 Central Buckeye Conference game won by Alder 30-13.
“I don’t know if one team gains a psychological advantage by winning or losing the first meeting, but there are a lot of things in play when these teams meet,” Alder coach Brett Glass said. “As county rivals, a lot of our kids know each other. Their coach (Kyle Cutler) and I are good friends and both of us went to Alder.
“During our locker room speech after last week’s game, I read the players the New Albany-pickerington North score just to make they understand that it won’t come any easier the second time around.”
In the same Division III, Region 11, Central Catholic League rivals Hartley, Watterson and Desales are still alive and there is a distinct possibility they will run into one another a third time this season. In hopes of minimizing the risk of COVID-19 exposure in other school districts, CCL teams decided to play a home-and-home series.
Desales swept Hartley (24-21 and 1614), Hartley swept Watterson (16-14 and 42-32) and Desales split with Watterson, winning 28-22 in overtime and losing 35-34 in two overtimes.
“Except in our second game with Watterson when we got a cheap touchdown late, every game was a one-score game,” Hartley coach Brad Burchfield said.
“Playing a rematch certainly makes it easier in terms of preparation because of the familiarity of the teams, but it becomes more of a chess match. You’re trying to figure out what they saw the first time, how they interpreted it and what they’ll do in response. Some teams approach a rematch like they would going into halftime of a game and making adjustments. We treat it like a completely different game.”
sblackledge@dispatch.com