LOUDONVILLE — John Battaglia’s first game as Loudonville’s head coach will be the only game in town.
The Redbirds will host Crestview on Thursday, a day ahead of the traditional start date for the high school football season, and Battaglia can’t wait to get going.
“The kids are excited to get out there and play football. They don’t care if it’s a Thursday or a Friday or a Saturday,” said Battaglia, who succeeded Kevin Maltarich in May. “We’ll play anywhere and at any time.”
For those who can’t attend, this game will be livestreamed at OH.Report.
The idea for Loudonville and Crestview to open on a Thursday was hatched several years ago. The 2020 season opener between the Redbirds and Cougars was supposed to be played on a Thursday but non-conference games were eliminated last fall because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“This has been a few years in the making,” third-year Crestview coach Steve Haverdill said. “My first year (2019) we were going to do it but there were conflicts will volleyball games and things like that. Then last year they canceled the non-conference games, so this is the first year where we actually kick it off.
“It’s exciting in that aspect because nobody else is really playing in Ashland County.”
Hillsdale will open its season Thursday, but the Falcons are on the road. Hillsdale plays at Ravenna Southeast.
In Richland County, Ontario opens it season at Lexington on Thursday. Lexington’s former head coach, Tim Scheid, is now Crestview’s defensive coordinator.
“Tim is on our staff now and I was giving him a hard time,” Haverdill said. “I told him they were copying us.”
Madison and Shelby provided a blueprint for the Thursday night kickoff. The longtime rivals opened their seasons on a Thursday from 2016 to 2018.
“Our goal was to offer our players an experience like Shelby and Madison,” said Haverdill, who served on former Madison coach Sean Conway’s staff. “When I left Madison, they started opening on a Thursday and the place was packed. It was a great atmosphere.”
For Crestview, Thursday is the first game of a season-long road trip. The Cougars will play their home games at Ashland High School while the artificial surface is installed at Crestview.
“If our field gets done, we’ll move the games back to Crestview but we’ll keep them on the same dates,” Haverdill said. “The goal is to be back at our place on Oct. 8, but we’ll see.”
The high school season is kicking off a week earlier than usual to accommodate an extra week of playoffs. An extra round was added earlier in the year when the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s Board of Directors approved a recommendation to increase the number of playoff qualifiers from 12 to 16 teams per region.
“The whole season is moved up a week, but everybody is in the same boat in that regard. Everybody is playing this weekend,” Battaglia said. “We feel like our kids have put in the work and we’re in a pretty good spot. They are ready to play some football.”
