PEMBERVILLE, Ohio — A No. 10 seed is not supposed to look like a regional finalist. Coldwater has spent three weeks looking like one anyway. The 10th-seeded Cavaliers upset third-seeded Eastwood 26-7 on Friday night, November 13, at Freedom Field at Jerry Rutherford Stadium in an OHSAA Division V, Region 18 semifinal, according to the Mansfield News Journal’s statewide scoreboard. The Columbus Dispatch’s scoreboard, High School On SI’s statewide scoreboard and the Reflector’s score list all confirmed the 26-7 final.
The road itself is part of the story. Coldwater had traveled nearly 600 miles in the first two weeks of the playoffs, according to Black Swamp Football’s semifinal broadcast notes, winning at Genoa Area and at Wooster Triway just to earn Friday’s trip across the state to Pemberville. A team on its third straight road game, against a 10-1 host, is the bracket’s textbook underdog.
Coldwater’s tournament began with an escape: a 27-26 first-round win at Genoa Area, according to the Dayton Daily News’ playoff preview. The quarterfinal was the milestone game — Coldwater won at second-seeded Triway, the win that made Chip Otten the school’s 200-win coach, according to Black Swamp Football’s broadcast notes, which reported Otten had just recorded his 200th win with the Cavaliers entering Friday…