MADISON TOWNSHIP — He’s only been absent from the sidelines for three seasons, but first-year Madison football coach Scott Valentine barely recognizes the Ohio Cardinal Conference he left following the 2018 season.
Valentine, who led Ashland to unprecedented heights during his 17 seasons, is one of three new coaches in the OCC this year. The conference also added New Philadelphia, bringing its membership to eight schools.
“It’s an exciting time for the conference,” said Valentine, who was 130-60 with 10 playoff appearances and seven OCC titles with the Arrows. “Usually there aren’t a lot of changes, but we have the addition of a team and some new coaches.
“It should be a lot of fun.”
Another of those new coaches is Andrew Saris, who took over for Taylor Gerhardt at Lexington. Saris was a Madison assistant and the Rams’ head track coach for the past decade.
“We just had our coaches meeting the other day and I was saying there are a lot of guys in that room who I respect,” Saris said. “To compete against them is going to be awesome.”
For Saris, piloting a football program is the fulfillment of a lifelong ambition. His father also was a football and track coach.
“Being a head football coach has always been a dream of mine,” Saris said. “Track and football have been my whole life. My dad coached them both and, gosh, now I’m getting the opportunity.”
In addition to Madison and Lexington, Mount Vernon also has a new coach. Jay Campbell replaced Mike Kerr, who stepped down to become the head coach at Bexley. Campbell spent the past five seasons as the head coach at Northridge.
New Philadelphia will renew longstanding rivalries when OCC play begins. New Philly was a member of the old Cardinal Conference with Madison, Ashland and Wooster from 1961 until the league folded in 1987.
The high school season will kick off in about three weeks. The start of the season was bumped up a week last year after the Ohio High School Athletic Association expanded the playoffs from eight to 16 teams per region, adding an extra round of regional playoffs.
The OHSAA allowed the mandatory five-day acclimatization period to begin July 18, meaning most players were in full pads and taking part in full-contact drills on the opening day of practice Monday.
“We had close to 95 percent of our guys gets those five acclimatization days in already, which is huge,” Valentine said. “Most of our guys were able to start hitting today.
“We can start scrimmaging later this week and opening night will be here before you know it. We can’t wait.”
