High School Football Rewind: Who ruled the Western Ohio Athletic Conference in 2025?
Before the 2026 high school football season kicks off, let’s take a look back at what went down last season in the Western Ohio Athletic Conference with an eye on what it could tell us for this fall:
Defending champions
Tri-Village (11-1, 9-0)
Game of the year: Tri-County North 27, Mississinawa Valley 20, Week 9
One of the few back-and-forth games that took place in the WOAC.
TCN jumped out to a 19-0 first half lead with Peyton Fannin scoring a season-best 69-yard touchdown reception.
Mississinawa Valley came back with 20 straight points — helped by a pair of 75-yard touchdown plays — to take the lead in the fourth quarter. TCN got a fourth TD of the night by Fannin to go back ahead where it held on in the final minutes.
Performance of the year
Tri-Village senior Noah Finkbine stifled Preble Shawnee to the tune of 20 tackles, one sack and three tackles for loss with a fumble recovery on defense, and also caught eight passes for 83 yards on offense as the Patriots won a showdown of the league’s top-two teams 40-7 in Week 9.
Playoff results
Four WOAC teams advanced to the postseason and two won at least one game for the sixth consecutive season.
Preble Shawnee knocked off league rival Arcanum in the first round of the Division V playoffs. They lost to Region 20 champion Indian Lake in the quarterfinals.
Tri-Village defeated Portsmouth West in the D-VI quarterfinals before losing to Region 24 champion Coldwater in the semifinals.
Ansonia fell to New Bremen in a first round game.
37: A number that defined the season
The average margin of victory in the 45 conference games was more than five touchdowns. There were only three games with a margin of victory under 18 points and all of them involved Mississinawa Valley. Domination from the teams at the top of the standings scaled the higher up a team finished, culminating with Tri-Village’s 47.1 points per game margin of victory.
Biggest question entering 2026
Can someone new crack the top-three? Ansonia, Preble Shawnee, and Tri-Village have finished as the top-three teams in the standings for the past four seasons. The only time a different team was able to disrupt the pecking order occurred during the league’s inaugural 2021 season when Arcanum got third. The Trojans may be the best candidate to do it again this season. They have the most first (3) and second team (6) all-league performers returning.
League leaders
2025 All-ohio picks (Underclassmen in bold):
Division V
First Team: Brody Morton, Camden Preble Shawnee, 6-3, 190, sr., QB.
Second Team: Caleb Blankenship, Camden Preble Shawnee, 6-2, 180, jr., WR; Cooper Shrout, Camden Preble Shawnee, 6-3, 260, sr., OL.
Honorable Mention: Marcus Rayburn, Arcanum, 6-0, 275, sr., OL; Colton Schroeder, Camden Preble Shawnee, 6-2, 180, sr., P.
Division VI
First Team: Trey Sagester, New Madison Tri-Village, 6-3, 170, sr., QB; Griffin Richards, New Madison Tri-Village, 6-0, 175, jr., WR; Dom Black, New Madison Tri-Village, 6-4, 280, jr., OL.; Noah Finkbine, New Madison Tri-Village, 6-1, 190, sr., LB.
Honorable Mention: Staley Colston, New Madison Tri-Village, 5-10, 175, so., RB; Luke Vernon, New Paris National Trail, 6-2, 190, sr., OL; Hunter Johnsman, New Madison Tri-Village, 6-3, 210 sr., DL; Landen Moore, New Madison Tri-Village, 6-2, 210, sr., LB; Colt Camacho, New Madison Tri-Village, 6-1, 180, so., DB.
Division VII
Honorable Mention: Jacob Schmitmeyer, Ansonia, 5-10, 175. jr., RB; Oden Hoening, Ansonia, 5-11, 200, jr., OL; Lucas Barlow, West Alexandria Twin Valley South, 6-4, 190, jr., OL; Luke Wright, Lewisburg Tri-County North, 6-0, 180, jr., OL; Frank Filbrun, Lewisburg Tri-County North, 5-7, 175, sr., LB.
