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2 venues to share state football finals

Stark County to host 2012, ’13 state title games; Columbus gets games in 2014, ’15.

Staff photo by Nick Daggy Head coach Steve Channell talks with his players before practice at Edgewood High School.

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By Skip Weaver, Staff Writer Updated 12:02 PM Thursday, July 22, 2010

MIDDLETOWN — A collective sigh of relief was heard around many high school football locker rooms here in the southern half of the state on Wednesday, July 21.

That’s because the Ohio High School Athletic Association Board of Directors voted to award both Stark County and Columbus the opportunity to host the state football finals for two years each beginning with the 2012 season.

The vote took place during a special board conference call meeting and was in response to a recommendation from an 11-person state football finals subcommittee.

“I think it’s a positive move for the state as a whole,” said Edgewood coach Steve Channell, who was on the selection committee in 2006 the last time the contract was awarded solely to Stark County. “Stark County does a great job of hosting the event, but the other side of the coin is that it will be more fair for everybody across the state to be more centrally located.”

Stark County, which has hosted all or portions of the finals for the past 20 years and has two years remaining on the current contract to host the finals, has been awarded the 2012 and 2013 championships and will continue to utilize Canton Fawcett Stadium and Massillon Paul Brown Tiger Stadium for the six championship games in a two-day format.

Columbus will host the finals in 2014 and 2015 and use Ohio Stadium on the campus of Ohio State University, also in a two-day format.

“I think that’s awesome” said veteran Valley View High School coach Jay Niswonger, who as a past president of the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association has been involved in the negotiation process in previous years. “It’s been an ongoing process. It’s not going to make everyone happy, but a split is better than nothing at all.”

As part of the motion to approve the recommendation, the board also gave itself the opportunity to discuss option years for hosting the finals in the future.

“I think this opens the door for possible locations in the future,” Channell said. “With that said, and the huge interest in high school football down here, I truly believe Cincinnati at some point needs to have the opportunity to host it.”

The championships were first held in Stark County in part in 1990 and entirely in 1991. Prior to that, 37 state football championships were held in Ohio Stadium in Columbus between 1982-89.