More than 300 teams began the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) football playoffs four weeks ago. Now, with the respective regional championship games set to take place tonight, fewer than 60 remain.

Of those 60, three are local to the area – Cardinal Mooney, Girard and McDonald – and coincidentally, each of the three are led by coaches who eventually found their way back to their alma mater.

“It’s always been special to be back home,” Girard head coach Pat Pearson said. “The last 12 years have been special. To me, there’s no better job in the country, and there’s no place I would want to be. I live here, I’m from here, I raise my family here. It’s just an unbelievable place.”

Pearson, a 1999 graduate of Girard, said he did not really dream of becoming the Indians’ head coac

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