WILMINGTON, Ohio — Wilmington High School named Ryan Evans Sr. its next head football coach Wednesday afternoon, pending board of education approval later this month.

"We are excited for Coach Evans to be the leader of our football program," Wilmington athletic director Troy Diels said. "Ryan's vision for the program as well as his passion are very clear and we feel he will make an immediate positive impact on our young men."

Evans would succeed Scott Killen as the Wilmington head coach. He has coached in a variety of roles around Southwest Ohio, including working as the co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach at Monroe High School this past season.

"Wilmington has a rich history of football and I wanted to be the person to change the narrative," Evans said. "The administration, the community, parents and players all have the same vision and mission that me and my family have. My family and I are so excited to roll up our sleeves and get started."

Prior to that, Evans was an assistant head football coach, special teams coordinator and defensive line coach at Middletown. He was an assistant head coach and defensive line coach at Princeton from July 2014 to December 2018, and the special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach at Middletown from July 2010 to November 2013.

Evans had several roles in the Winton Woods football program from 2004 to 2010. The Warriors were the Division II state champions in 2009. He also coached at Central State University as a student assistant defensive line coach from June 2006 to December 2007.

RELATED: Hughes High School football coach Chris Mobley is stepping down after six seasons

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.

CINCINNATI — It's Friday in late August so that means high school football is back in Ohio.

Some games are continuing as scheduled, like Lakota West at Colerain, but some teams had to cancel their games due to the pandemic.

Fenwick and Kings high schools both will not be playing in their games since they both had positive COVID-19 cases. However, the teams they were supposed to play, Edgewood and Winton Woods, will play against each other instead.

Ohio's Governor Mike DeWine gave the green light to high school football teams to play earlier in August, but he did give some restrictions in order to slow the spread of COVID-19.

One of the changes will be that game spectators will be limited to players' parents, family members or those closest to the student-athlete. Teams are also only allowed to dress 60 players. High school marching bands will also only be allowed to perform at their home games.

While football starts in Ohio, Kentucky's Board of Education is supposed to meet virtually Friday with the Kentucky High School Athletic Association's Board of Control to discuss fall sports moving forward. The current plan is for Kentucky teams to start their seasons on Sept. 11.

ANDERSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio — There were plenty of smiles to start homecoming weekend in front of the bleachers at Charles L. Brown Stadium Friday night.

Anderson rallied from an eight-point deficit with eight minutes remaining to defeat Winton Woods 28-21 in an Eastern Cincinnati Conference football showdown.

"It was remarkable how our kids came back," Anderson coach Evan Dreyer said.

It was Anderson's first win over Winton Woods since 2009, according to Dreyer.

"It was the most fun I've ever had playing a game," Anderson senior wide receiver Evan Upchurch said.

"The energy from our team and the energy from their team - it just added up and it was a great game."

Upchurch was part of a two-point conversion play when he threw the football to junior quarterback Griffin Scalf in the end zone to tie the game at 21 with 6:47 left.

"That is just Evan Upchurch and Griffin Scalf having some fun before and after practice," said Dreyer. "They wanted to run it and it was really, really cool as a coach to see those guys succeed."

Scalf connected with junior wide receiver Santos Alvarez for a 29-yard touchdown pass a play earlier to close the gap on the Warriors' lead.

After the two-point conversion, Anderson senior linebacker Casey O'Toole recovered the onside kick to give the Raptors another scoring opportunity.

The Raptors converted a fourth down from the Warriors' 12-yard line and three plays later Scalf eluded two defenders to find senior tight end Brody Foley in the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown pass connection with under two minutes left.

"He's a big target," Scalf said of Foley. "Just throw it up and he goes and gets it."

Foley, who is verbally committed to the University of Tennessee, said he saw Scalf look away and he found an open space in the end zone.

"It was a great play by him and a great play by our offense," said Foley, who also scored a first-half touchdown.

The Anderson defense was strong on the Warriors' final drive to seal the victory.

"I've been here six years now and the curse of beating Winton Woods," Dreyer said. "They're a great ball club. (Coach) Chad Murphy took over and it's one of those things to get over a little bit of a hump as we head toward the last three games. It's going to be really, really crucial to finish these three games strong as we end ECC play and head toward the playoffs in November."

Foley said he won't soon forget Friday night's game.

"It's amazing," Foley said. "It's a great feeling. I love coming out here every Friday with my boys and playing. It's special at home, it's homecoming, the fans are all out. It's an awesome feeling."

Anderson senior kicker Hayden Brooke had two field goals - including a 38-yarder and 29-yarder to help the Raptors (5-2, 4-1 ECC), who play at Milford Oct. 8.

Winton Woods senior running back Tyrek Spikes scored two rushing touchdowns and senior wide receiver Tai'je Frazier scored on a 48-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter for the Warriors (4-3, 3-2 ECC), who play at Turpin Oct. 8.

CINCINNATI — The Eastern Cincinnati Conference announced Friday morning the adoption of a nine-game conference football schedule starting with the 2022 season.

The ECC athletic directors voted 9-1 Thursday in favor of the move.

The 2022 season would have just one non-conference game possibility for ECC members in the first week of the year. There are 10 weeks in an Ohio high school football regular season.

The ECC is in its first full season of an eight-game conference schedule since it added Lebanon, Winton Woods and Little Miami starting in the fall 2020. (The COVID-19 pandemic shortened the 2020 regular season across the state with Kings and Winton Woods named ECC co-champions).

The ECC said conference football games will occur in weeks 2-10 starting in 2022. Each school's conference scrimmage will become the Week 2 contest.

"It's great for our conference," Winton Woods athletic director David Lumpkin said. "I think you are going to see probably other leagues as well. We're not the only league to consider this. It's getting tougher and tougher to schedule and it leaves us with a true champion without having a bye every year."

The expansion of the Ohio High School Athletic Association playoffs to 16 teams per region in the seven divisions also played a factor in the ECC's decision.

In Division I, Region 4, 16 of the 17 eligible programs will make the playoffs this year.

While the computer playoff points, also known as Harbin points, earned are important for playoff seeding, it's not as relevant for making the postseason as in past years.

"Looking at the structure, I think everyone realizes things are evolving and we have to evolve and change with it," Milford athletic director Aaron Zupka said. "I think it was a pretty easy decision. It was just timing of when to do it."

Lebanon athletic director Keith Pantling said the move to nine ECC games is very beneficial for the communities and for Lebanon to continue to establish new rivalries.

Pantling and Zupka recognized the change locally for the football scheduling landscape where rivalries outside the conference will change during the regular season.

WCPO

"It's getting tougher for smaller conferences and further diminishes the chances of more local private school-public school matchups," said Pantling, who was the La Salle athletic director from 2016 to 2018. "I've been in both chairs."

The ECC, which started in 2012, includes Kings, Turpin, Anderson, Milford, West Clermont, Little Miami, Walnut Hills, Winton Woods, Lebanon and Loveland.

The Greater Miami Conference discussed a nine-game conference schedule at its Sept. 7 meeting and plans to revisit the discussion no later than the October meeting, but it could happen sooner.

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.