With last week’s 27-6 win over Graham in a D-V, Region 20 playoff game, Greeneview became the first team to win 11 games.
Now, they’re seeking another milestone — the program’s first second-round victory. The Rams will host Lima Bath (6-5) at 7 p.m. Friday at Don Nock Field in Jamestown.
“It’s a great run and we want to keep it rolling,” said Rams coach Ryan Haines “We’re just trying to find those things for the kids to celebrate, just like we did last week getting our first 11-win season in school history.”
The Rams will face a tough task in Bath, which finished 6-4 in the much larger Western Buckeye League. Three of their four regular season losses came against bigger teams with winning records: Wapakoneta (11-0), St. Mary’s Memorial (9-2), Celina (6-5) and Ottawa Glandorf (6-5).
“Lima Bath is a good football team,” Haines said. “They’ve got skill kids out the wazoo. They’re big up front. It’s going to be a tough challenge for our kids. As you start talking about the postseason, it really becomes a ‘one week at a time, each week has to be your Super Bowl’ kind of mentality.”
The ninth-seeded Wildcats traveled to Carlisle for a first-round game, beating the Indians 51-22 to advance.
“They’re not going to be intimidated coming into a No. 1 seed’s house,” Haines said. “They’ve played in some hostile environments against some good teams and they battled them hard. That’s a testament to the kids and the staff. It’s going to be a fight on Friday.”
The Wildcats are led by quarterback Zach Welsch, who has passed for more than 2,300 yards. He has three top targets that rank among the WBL leaders in receiving in Josiah Clark, Logan Markley and Jaxon Foster.
“We’ve got to kind of limit the splash plays, the ones they get big on us,” Haines said. “We’ve got to be prepared for their uptempo stuff.”
Offensively, the Rams must do a better job executing against a Bath defense allowing more than 350 yards of total offense per game.
“Last week we had some missed assignments, turned the ball over on our first offensive drive and had two situations where we slipped and didn’t convert fourth down plays,” Haines said. “We just have to execute better.”
The winner will play either No. 4 Preble Shawnee or No. 5 Indian Lake in a Region 20 semifinal game at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15 at a site to be determined.
The second-round game will also be the final home game at Don Nock Field for Greeneview’s senior class, who have always had a winning tradition through youth and middle school football, Haines said. The group has won 20 straight Ohio Heritage Conference South Division games, claiming four league titles. The Rams have won 10 straight home games since falling to West Liberty-Salem in Week 3 of the 2023 season.
“Hopefully we can keep that going, but it’s the same formula as any other football game,” Haines said.
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