Saturday night's Division I, Region 1 OHSAA second-round football playoff game between the 11th-seeded Saint Ignatius Wildcats (7-4) and the third-seeded Hudson Explorers (10-1) will be played at the outstanding stadium facility at Brunswick High School.
The kickoff on Judy Kirsch Field will be 7 PM. All tickets are $7 and they will go on sale at Saint Ignatius on Tuesday morning.
In their 2011 state-championship season, the Wildcats defeated St. Edward, 20-17, in a Regional Semifinal Game at Brunswick.
Saint Ignatius advanced to the second round by defeating Canton McKinley, 38-14, at Fawcett Stadium (see the corner's game story from Saturday night below) and Hudson advanced by dominating Toledo Whitmer, 31-7, at Hudson Memorial Stadium.
In their victory over Whitmer, Hudson's defense limited the Panthers to just 97 total yards. Explorers standout quarterback Mitch Guadagni rushed for 151 yards and two touchdowns and threw TD passes of 21 and 24 yards to the versatile Colton Whited.
It was sweet revenge for the Explorers, as they were defeated by Whitmer, 39-28, in last year's playoffs. Whitmer went on to finish as the Division I state runner-up to Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller.
Hudson ran off eight consecutive victories this season before being defeated by the Mentor Cardinals, 38-14, at Mentor's Jerome T. Osborne Sr. Stadium. In that game, Mentor's outstanding all-around athlete and senior quarterback Conner Krizancic accounted for 388 yards of offense. Conner rushed for 118 yards and completed 19 of 28 passes for 270 yards and two touchdowns.
Saint Ignatius handed Mentor its only setback this season, 26-6, at Osborne Stadium in Week 2.
Hudson and Saint Ignatius finished seventh and 10th, respectively, in the final Associated Press Division I state poll. As we mentioned a couple of times this week, Saturday's match up with the Explorers will mark only the second time that Saint Ignatius and Hudson have met on the gridiron.
En route to their state runner-up season of 1996, the Wildcats defeated the Explorers, 53-12, in a Regional Final. That victory came in the days when only four teams from each region qualified for the OHSAA playoffs.
The winner of the Saint Ignatius versus Hudson game will face the winner of Saturday's second-round match up between Mentor (10-1) and Stow (10-1). That third-round game will be played on Nov. 23 at a site to be determined.
Just a reminder that the corner will provide an in-depth preview on the Wildcats-Explorers encounter on Tuesday night.
ALL IN THE FAMILY: There will be a strong family tie to the Hudson-Saint Ignatius game as Explorers freshman wide receiver Matt Restifo is the nephew of Wildcats veteran and highly successful Offensive Coordinator Nick Restifo.
Matt Restifo is the son of Mark Restifo, Coach Restifo's brother. Mark and Nick are proud graduates of legendary Cathedral Latin School, as is yours truly.
Have a great Sunday everyone and we'll see you at either Wasmer Field during the week or at Judy Kirsch Field on Saturday night. Bundle up. They say snow is on the way.