Ohio state football championships

November 29th at 7:30pm: Massillon Washington (14-0) vs. Akron Hoban (14-0) for the Division II title

November 30th at 10am: Kirtland (14-0) vs. Marion Local (13-1) for the Division VI title

November 30th at 3pm: Kettering Alter (13-1) vs. Chagrin Falls (13-1) for the Division III title

November 30th at 8pm: Lakewood St. Edward (10-3) vs. Cincinnati Colerain (14-0) for the Division I title

December 1st at 10am: McComb (13-1) vs. Glouster Trimble (13-1) for the Division VII title

December 1st at 3pm: Orrville (12-2) vs. Johnstown-Monroe (13-1) for the Division V title

December 1st at 8pm: Cincinnati Wyoming (14-0) vs. Girard (13-1) for the Division IV title

*All games will take place at the Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton

I'd like to see Wyoming bring home a title this year.

Go Alter!!

I'd like to see Wyoming bring home a title this year.

I was surprised to read they haven't won a title since 1977.

*All games will take place at the Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton

Is this new? I seem to recall the Ohio games being played in multiple stadiums in the past.

Is this new? I seem to recall the Ohio games being played in multiple stadiums in the past.

I'm not sure about the timeline, but for a long time Ohio (back before they moved from six divisions to seven) split the championship games between Canton and Massillon. Several years ago, they moved all of the games to the Horseshoe in Columbus for a bit. They've recently moved back to Canton, but Massillon isn't currently in the picture. Not sure why.

For me personally, Canton feels like the best location. Partially because of the football history of that town, and partially because Hall of Fame Stadium is just big enough to hold a very large crowd (23,000 capacity), but not so large that the big game atmosphere is lost in the size of the venue, as was the case when they moved to the Horseshoe.

It has been moving from the northeast to a much better central location for a few years now.

I think there will be 2 good games possibly one running clock game,with the other 4 games being blowouts.

I'd like to see Wyoming bring home a title this year.

Me too!

Former Wyoming head football Coach Bernie Barre also is the former head football coach at Beechwood meaning two of his former schools are playing for state championships this weekend.

Coach Barre was the head football coach at Beechwood when the Tigers won their first state championship in 1984 and Coach Barre had several very good football teams at Wyoming and did a phenomenal job with the Cowboy football program.

Congrats Coach Barre!

On a personal note I am honored to call Coach Barre my friend.

The Massilon Tigers top RB, Jamir Thomas, will be out due to an ankle injury he suffered in the last game against Winton Woods. He is Massilon's all-time rushing leader in yards (4,025), TDs (56), attempts (773), and scoring (344 pts). He was just 58 yards shy of the single-season rushing record when he was injured in the 3rd quarter of the semi-final game. He has 1,918 yards on the season. He will be watching from the sidelines.

His backup, Zion Phifer, is pretty good. In the 4th quarter against Winton Woods he gained 76 yards on 15 attempts and 2 TDs. He also has 623 yards on the season on 126 carries. But how do you replace someone like Thomas?

Go Tigers, beat Hoban!

BTW, Massilon is pronounced Mass'-lun.

Congrats Coach Barre!

 

On a personal note I am honored to call Coach Barre my friend.

I don't know how old he is, but is Barre still involved in any coaching?

I don't know how old he is, but is Barre still involved in any coaching?

Probably middle 60s, he is retired and spends a lot of time with his family and traveling.

I think he is going to be at both the Beechwood and Wyoming games this weekend.

So up until around 1990, when the Shoe went to natural grass, Columbus had been the primary host, but not always (in the 70's and early 80's state championship games were played at other venues including Nippert and the old Akron Rubber Bowl). Starting in the 1990's, Stark County (Massillon and Canton McKinley) became the hosts using Paul Brown Tiger Stadium and Fawcett Stadium. The OHSAA was able to get all six games done in two days and the stadium capacities (low 20k) were the perfect size.

Unfortunately for SW Ohio, this also coincided with an era of NE Ohio dominance at the D1 level that was not snapped until Elder won in Canton in 2002. Now, given the grumblings from the SW part of the state about travel, etc., and support from then Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel, the OHSAA finally lamented and scheduled a series of state championship games in Columbus that ended in 2016.

With the money that the NFL, state and Canton has pumped into "Tom Benson Field" (Fawcett Stadium), I can't imagine it going back to Columbus, but who knows. This is also the reason I believe Paul Brown Tiger Stadium was taken out of the mix when the games went back to Stark County. Ohio now has 7 divisions and play the games across three days so I guess it works for them.

20000 is way to big and with horrible parking it makes it even a worse place to put these games

20000 is way to big and with horrible parking it makes it even a worse place to put these games

Do they clear the stands for each game? If not, I'd say that's a good size to have potentially 4 schools' fan bases simultaneously for a brief time.

Did the recent remodel remove a portion of the parking? I was there for a semi-final game about 7 years ago and remember no real issue. And that was with our school being about 15 miles away, and the other one coming from Akron...so, both schools had a good showing.

Yes they clear the stadium unless you have the 25 dollar club seats, with the only perk being u can stay in the stadium. U have two lots two park in. People posting on one of the Ohio sites, wjo were at the game tonight was talking about how bad parking is now.