“We’re just glad to be playing,” said Springfield coach Maurice Douglass. “I think our kids will be excited to play in front of the home crowd, one more game, one more time. It doesn’t really matter, to be honest, but I think the seniors will be happy for this last go-round, but I don’t think it’s gonna be that big of a difference now. I mean, it’s the playoffs. If you can’t get excited about playing in the playoffs, then what more do you need?”
Springfield beat the Monarchs in both 2019 and 2021 on their way to claiming regional championships, winning by a combined score of 50-0.
The Wildcats won five straight regional championships from 2019 to 2023, finishing as state runner-up in ’21, ’22 and ’23.
Last year, Springfield learned a valuable lesson, Douglass said. The Wildcats fell 34-30 to a Hilliard Bradley squad who entered the playoffs at 2-8.
“I think the number one thing that we learned from that is that you got to be thankful for every opportunity that you’re given out there and you can’t just take it for granted that it’s going to just happen for you,” Douglass said. “You’ve got to work for it. Everybody’s going to give you their best shot, and you got to be prepared for it.”
Marysville beat Hilliard Darby 35-14 last week to finish the season 5-5. The Monarchs will feature a power spread running game led by senior running back JJ Henry, junior quarterback Brady Carper and junior running back Colin Wimmers.
“They’ve just got some tough kids,” Douglass said. “They play hard and they’re gonna be well-disciplined and they’re gonna give everything they got. The whole town of Marysville is gonna be out here, and we just got to come out and play for 48 minutes. They’re not one of those running clock teams; they’re gonna always be in a battle with you.”
Springfield won seven of its last eight games after starting the season 0-3. All three of those losses came against teams who earned a first-round bye in the postseason - Winton Woods, Walsh Jesuit and Trotwood-Madison.
The defensive unit allowed an average of 5.4 points in seven conference games en route to their first Greater Western Ohio Conference championship since 2022.
The Wildcats senior class were freshmen and sophomores on both the 2022 and 2023 state runner-up teams. They know what it takes to get to Canton. This year, the program won’t take any team lightly along the way, Douglass said.
“It’s one-and-done so you gotta try to make this run as special as possible,” he said. “We want to try to do that for our seniors. They’ve done a good job this year for us. We want to try to make it as long a run as we can and take it to December.”
About the Author
