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The cumulative history of the greatest rivalry in Huron County: St. Paul vs. Monroeville.

NORWALK- Are you ready to do it all over again?

For the first time in the rivalry's history, St. Paul and Monroeville will play in the first round of the playoffs at one of the school's home sites, as the official OHSAA state football playoff pairings that were released Sunday afternoon for Division VI Region 21 pairs (2) St. Paul (9-1) and (7) Monroeville (6-4) to meet back at Warren Whitney Field in Norwalk Saturday night at 7 p.m., exactly one week later from playing each other in week 10.

The Flyers clinched the home game and the Firelands Conference championship with a 21-6 win over the Eagles this past Saturday night, but losses suffered by Tiffin Calvert and Sandusky St. Mary's allowed the Eagles to get back into the picture and slide into the 7th seed.

After the victory over Monroeville, St. Paul head coach John Livengood wasn't putting much stock into who was coming to Norwalk and if it was Monroeville or not when pressed about it by the media.

"I don't know who we are playing next week and to be honest I'm not worried about that right now," he said. "The sole focus all week was on winning this Monroeville game and I'll worry about that stuff Sunday when the time comes because I have no control over that stuff. The only thing we had control over was how we played tonight."

Monroeville coach Steve Ringholz, in his 30th season at the school, was just pleased to be in the playoffs to begin with after the school's first ever 0-3 start looked to dim playoff hopes earlier in the season.

"We don't care who we play and are just glad things worked out that we are in," he said. "This group has been one of the most enjoyable to coach and they've come so far. Once you get in, anything can happen."

Ringholz was then able to joke after the loss when asked what his team would do differently if the matchup was indeed St. Paul again.

"Well we left for the game tonight at 5:35 p.m., but since it's a 7 p.m. kickoff next week I guess we would probably leave at 5:05 p.m. instead."

While two rivals playing each other in the postseason is rare, it is not uncommon for fans in the area that follow the schools in the Norwalk-Sandusky-Lorain coverage area. In the Sandusky Bay Conference, Clyde lost to Oak Harbor in the regular season only to beat the Rockets 10-7 in the playoffs on its way to the state championship during the 1995 season, while in the Northern Ohio League Willard drew a matchup at Bellevue in the first round of the expanded playoffs in 1999 and claimed a 13-0 win.

Lastly, and in particular in relating to this week's game, the epic Fremont Ross-Sandusky rivalry (3rd longest in Ohio history) also had a playoff meeting in the 1983 season and the teams also met in week 10 and 11 for the conference crown and first round playoff game. Ross won both games by identical 7-0 scores.

Below is a recap of the St. Paul-Monroeville playoff history and overall history:

It all started back in 1996 when the Eagles slipped by Pandora-Gilboa in the first round on the same night the Flyers were hammering Hopewell-Loudon for the school's first ever playoff win, 34-14. Played in Lorain, St. Paul jumped out to a huge early lead and cruised to a 34-8 win over the Eagles to advance to the state semifinals for the first time in school history. During 1996 the regular season, the Flyers beat Monroeville 33-7.

In 1999, the two teams played at Warren Whitney Field during the regular season and the Flyers prevailed in a hard fought 21-14 win. When the two teams hooked up for another regional championship, this time at Bellevue, there was little doubt it would again be a competitive game and as usual, the rivalry delivered.

After missing a short field goal earlier in the game that would have given St. Paul the lead, kicker Aidan McDonnell was called upon with just six seconds left in a 14-14 tie to kick a school record 48-yard field goal attempt. In front of 4,415 fans, the kicker delivered with plenty of room to spare to send the Flyer faithful into a delirious celebration and eventually a second trip to the state championship game.

Five years to the day of McDonnell's kick, the teams squared off again in a rainy regional championship game at Elyria after the Eagles had claimed a 19-6 win at Marsh Field eight weeks prior. The Flyers trailed 15-8 halfway through the third quarter, but closed the game out by outscoring Monroeville 22-0 down the stretch to again move on and eventually reach a third state championship game.

This Saturday night in Norwalk, on the heels of a Flyer win to clinch an FC title...we move on to part IV.

              Overall: St. Paul leads the series 26-20-1               Number of Meetings: 47
              At Norwalk: St. Paul leads 14-9                              At Norwalk: 23 At Monroeville: 21
              At Monroeville: Monroeville leads 11-9-1               At Lorain: 1 At Bellevue: 1 At Elyria: 1
              At Neutral Site: St. Paul leads 3-0                          Biggest St. Paul win: 55-15 in 1997
              In Postseason play: St. Paul leads 3-0                   Biggest Monroeville win: 34-0 in 1987
 

*- denotes postseason game