By Mark Hazelwood

MEDINA- A year ago, the St. Paul football team played in a driving rain storm in a second round playoff game against McDonald - a 34-0 victory - at Medina's Ken Dukes Stadium.

This time around in a matchup with Mogadore, there was another storm at Ken Dukes Stadium, but it was the team speed of St. Paul storming through, over and around the Wildcats (10-2) to the tune of a 21-0 first quarter advantage, a 41-0 halftime lead and a 48-7 final score Friday night.

In four playoff victories at Ken Dukes Stadium dating back to 1997, the Flyers have outscored the foursome of Cuyahoga Heights (1997), Warren JFK (2007), McDonald (2008) and Mogadore (2009) by a combined score of 159-20.

The win moves St. Paul (12-0) into the regional championship round for a sixth straight year, where another unbeaten foe and long time Division V school until this season, Bucyrus Wynford (12-0) awaits at Ashland Community Stadium Saturday at 7 p.m.

The matchup between the long time dominant forces of the Firelands and North Central Conferences was one many had predicted in the spring and summer when it was announced the Royals had joined region 21.

In the rout of Mogadore, Eric Schwieterman continued to find his 'midseason stride' after missing five games with a broken thumb, as the quarterback completed 11-of-12 passes for 213 yards and four touchdowns ... in the first half alone.

The Flyers opened the game, however, with a classic John Livengood-coached opening drive that was reminiscent of St. Paul team's from the mid 90's as an 18-play, 83-yard drive took nearly eight minutes to complete and was capped on a 3-yard touchdown pass from Schwieterman to Justin Wilde and Jim Roth added the first of six extra points for a 7-0 lead at the 4:29 mark of the opening quarter.

Less than a minute later, the St. Paul defense had done it's part and gave the offense the ball at the Mogadore 49. Four plays later, Schwieterman's pass to Brian Roberts was complete, and the senior receiver broke a tackle and got free on a 37-yard touchdown pass and catch to make it 14-0.

Two plays later, Schwieterman intercepted a Mogadore pass at the Wildcat 30 and two pass plays to Dan Tracht ended up into the end zone, the last coming on a 7-yard screen pass that saw Tracht cut back up the middle of the field and through the Mogadore defense for the score and a 21-0 commanding lead.

It only grew from there as Brian Griffin touchdown runs of 2 and 4 yards sandwiched a deep fly homerun pass from Schwieterman to Tracht that resulted in a 55-yard touchdown pass. When the smoke had cleared, it was a staggering 41-0 margin at halftime.

Late in the third quarter, the final score came when Tracht simply stepped in front of a receiver and returned an interception with ease 20 yards for a touchdown with 53 seconds left in the quarter for a 48-0 lead. Late in the game, Mogadore scored on a 1-yard run with the backups for both teams in the game.

Tracht finished with six catches for 133 yards and two scores while Griffin picked up 54 tough yards on 19 attempts and two scores. Justin Wilde added 24 yards on just three attempts.

St. Paul is 5-3 all-time in regional championship games since 1996 entering Saturday's showdown with Wynford, but have lost three out of the last four - all of which have come in consecutive years since 2005. All three losses also came at the hands of Hopewell-Loudon, who Wynford beat 39-30 to reach the title game.