LIBERTY TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Junior KC Spears rushed for 228 yards on eight carries and scored five touchdowns as Winton Woods defeated La Salle 42-25 in a Division II, Region 8 semifinal Friday night at Lakota East.

"KC is a phenomenal player," Winton Woods coach Chad Murphy said. "He is just so versatile. He plays quarterback, wide receiver, running back, punter and holder on point-after attempts."

Spears had a 94-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. He had an 83-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. He also caught a pass, punted, and returned punts Friday night.

Winton Woods (10-3) advances to play Piqua (12-0) in the Division II, Region 8 final Nov. 19 at a neutral location to be announced Sunday.

Friday night was the second straight upset in the regional tournament for Winton Woods.

Last week, Winton Woods, the No. 7 seed, defeated No. 1 seed and previously undefeated Kings 31-21 Nov. 5. This time, Winton Woods defeated No. 6 La Salle.

Winton Woods is making its sixth regional final appearance in program history, according to the Winton Woods athletic department.

"I'm so happy for them," Murphy said. "I liked the fact that we just kept the pedal to the metal."

Winton Woods had 399 yards of total offense including 341 yards rushing. The Winton Woods defense limited La Salle to just 87 yards rushing.

Winton Woods senior Tyrek Spikes had 21 carries for 104 yards.

"He's just a phenomenal young man," Murphy said earlier this week. "He's a phenomenal player. Just dynamic as they get."

Defensively, senior defensive lineman Jay'ron Gibson had eight tackles. Senior linebacker Jeremiah Anderson had seven tackles while senior defensive back Quentin Jenkins Jr. had six tackles.

Junior defensive backs Jermaine Mathews and Cameron Calhoun each had interceptions.

"Our defense has been so solid, so consistent most of the year," Murphy told WCPO earlier this week. "Offensively I've felt like we've really come along here the last few weeks probably mid-season. I just felt like we've put it all together finally and I feel like when we're hitting on all cylinders we're a pretty good football team."

Friday night was a rematch of a Week 2 game that La Salle won at home 21-7 Aug. 27. La Salle won the 2020 regional final matchup over Winton Woods.

GREEN TOWNSHIP, Ohio — La Salle football coach Pat McLaughlin was realistic after Friday's 51-point loss to visiting IMG Academy.

"I'm not even sure if an all-star team beats that team," McLaughlin said. "An all-star team from Cincinnati may keep it close with that team."

IMG Academy, ranked No. 2 nationally by MaxPreps, defeated La Salle 58-7 in front of an estimated 4,500 at Lancer Stadium.

Despite the score, McLaughlin said the Lancers gave their best effort as a program. La Salle (2-1) is determined to learn from Friday's result.

"As proud or more proud of this team than I've ever been because there wasn't a man in the program, a coach, a player that quit tonight," McLaughlin said. "They played from start to finish."

IMG Academy (2-0), the reigning MaxPreps and USA Today national champions with several major college commitments, led 21-0 with 2:01 left in the first quarter and 37-7 at halftime. The second half included a running clock.

IMG Academy running back Kaytron Allen, a Penn State verbal commit, rushed for 194 yards and four touchdowns including three scores in the first quarter alone.

The final statistics showed how dominant IMG Academy was in their second game in Ohio in less than a week. IMG defeated Bishop Sycamore 58-0 Aug. 29 in a nationally-televised game in Canton.

IMG Academy didn't miss a beat after spending the week in the Midwest. It had 475 yards of total offense Friday night compared to La Salle's 54 yards. IMG Academy had 23 first downs compared to La Salle's five.

"This isn't coach talk but you try to find a weakness on that team and you can't find it," McLaughlin said. "I mean they're getting the best players across the country. And again our kids stepped up. It got ugly a little bit but I felt like our kids battled the entire night."

The Lancers forced a turnover with 8:45 left in the second quarter when sophomore Koy Beasley recovered a fumble. Beasley had a game-high seven tackles.

The Lancers scored less than three minutes later when junior Mason Mattingly found senior tight end Dylan Eddings for a 5-yard touchdown pass connection.

Junior kicker Mason Luensman added the point-after attempt. That completed a 6-play, 47-yard drive.

La Salle is scheduled to play at Louisville Trinity (0-3) Sept. 10.

McLaughlin said the Lancers will move on to the next week and not dwell on Friday night.

"Our kids weren't scared; they played hard," McLaughlin said. "We brought them in and we battled four quarters."

GREEN TOWNSHIP, Ohio — La Salle junior kicker Mason Luensman made four field goals as the host Lancers defeated Winton Woods 21-7 Friday night.

Luensman made field goals from 38, 34, 30 and 36 yards to help lead the Lancers.

"He did a fantastic job," La Salle coach Pat McLaughlin said. "The operation from snap to hold to kick was good. Protection was good. Anytime you have a weapon when you kick the ball, anytime you get inside the 20, it's awesome. He did a great job tonight."

La Salle earned a 13-0 halftime lead and went ahead 18-0 when senior linebacker Tristen Wolf made a tackle for a safety late in the third quarter.

The kickoff was delayed due to inclement weather like many Greater Cincinnati high school football games Friday. The game didn't conclude until well after 11 p.m.

La Salle earned three interceptions, including a pick-six by senior defensive back Gage Howard late in the second quarter.

Senior defensive end JJ Ruffin had a game-high 10 tackles (six solo). Senior linebacker Chase Stein had nine tackles.

"We're finding a way to win," McLaughlin said. "They battled. They play hard. We played a ton of kids tonight. I told them I'm proud of just how hard they played."

La Salle (2-0) is scheduled to play IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) Sept. 3. That will be the third consecutive home game for La Salle.

"We want to bring the best teams in here," McLaughlin said.

"I think we got one of the best teams in the last 25 years in Colerain Week 1. We got one of the best teams in Kentucky. We got one of the best teams in Division II this week. We got one of the best teams in the country (with IMG Academy) and then you have our league. Our kids are going to be excited. We're going to have a good week of practice and we'll go out there like we did tonight and play hard from start to finish."

IMG Academy is scheduled to play Bishop Sycamore (Ohio) Saturday afternoon.

IMG Academy, ranked No. 2 nationally by MaxPreps, was declared the 2020 national champion by MaxPreps and USA Today.

MILFORD, Ohio — Tom Grippa likes to say he was always meant to be a high school football coach. On Friday night, it was his time to be recognized for a special career milestone.

Grippa celebrated his 200th career win as visiting Milford defeated Edgewood 41-14 in a non-league football season opener.

"We've been consistently good wherever I've been – whether it's Elder, Fairfield, La Salle or Milford," Grippa told WCPO.

"I'm really, really proud of my Milford kids because...I took over a program that was terrible and we won right away. The kids bought in. We changed the culture, and that's not always easy to do. It took a little bit of time to change it at Fairfield and here we did it right away."

Grippa, starting his 30th year as a high school head coach, is in his fifth season leading the Milford football program. He has a 200-116 record, according to the Milford athletic department.

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Grippa is the 64th coach in state history to reach 200 wins, according to the Ohio High School Athletic Association record book.

"I'm really proud of the kids and the program," said Grippa, who spent four seasons as the Mount St. Joseph University offensive coordinator prior to Milford.

Grippa is 23-15 at Milford and has led the Eagles to three playoff appearances including the first postseason win in program history in 2017.

“We are so proud to have a legend like Coach Grippa leading our program,” Milford athletic director Aaron Zupka said. “He has led our program to unprecedented heights during his time in Milford and we couldn’t be more excited to have him earn this milestone while leading our Eagles.”

Zupka said Grippa has always connected well with the Milford teams. There are 130-plus players in the Milford program.

"He's a player's coach," Zupka said. "The kids love playing for him. He relates to those kids."

The Eagles, which led 28-7 at halftime Friday, were led by junior quarterback Austin Hardin. He was 16 of 22 passing for 293 yards and four touchdowns.

Grippa was able to celebrate the career milestone win with a banner after the game surrounded by his players. He triumphantly raised the game ball in the locker room beside the team.

"We came home and it was like we won the Super Bowl," Grippa said.

The Eagles (1-0) play host to Lakota East (0-1) Aug. 27.