Sun Feb 12 2012
Columbus -- After spending the last 20 years in the birthplace of pro football, the Ohio High School Athletic Association has decided to move its state football championships back to the state capital.
The OHSAA Board of Directors today voted July 21 to award both Stark County and Columbus the opportunity to host the state football finals for two years each beginning with the 2012 season.
Stark County, has been awarded the 2012 and 2013 championships, while Columbus will host the finals in 2014 and 2015.
Stark County 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.
Stark County will continue to utilize Canton Fawcett Stadium and Massillon Paul Brown Tiger Stadium as the site for the six championship games in a two-day format rotating between the two facilities and Columbus will host all six finals at Ohio Stadium on the campus of The Ohio State University also in a two-day format.
Football championship weekend will continue to be on the first full weekend after Thanksgiving. With the announcement, the future state football finals schedule is as follows:
* 2010 -- Dec. 3-4 -- Canton Fawcett Stadium and Massillon Paul Brown Tiger Stadium
* 2011 -- Dec. 2-3 -- Canton Fawcett Stadium and Massillon Paul Brown Tiger Stadium
* 2012 -- Nov. 30-Dec. 1 -- Canton Fawcett Stadium and Massillon Paul Brown Tiger Stadium
* 2013 -- Dec. 6-7 -- Canton Fawcett Stadium and Massillon Paul Brown Tiger Stadium
* 2014 -- Dec. 5-6 -- Ohio Stadium, Columbus
* 2015 -- Dec. 4-5 -- Ohio Stadium, Columbus
The OHSAA board also left open the possibility of adding option years.
A subcommittee comprised of three OHSAA Board of Directors members, five OHSAA administrative staff members and three officers from the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association was formed to study where to play the final
The OHSAA received proposals to host the state finals from groups in Stark County, Columbus, Cincinnati, Akron/Akron and Kent State, Bowling Green and Toledo.
"We sincerely thank the six groups that were interested in hosting the state finals," said OHSAA Commissioner Dan Ross, who also served the subcommittee. "When we narrowed down our choices to the final two groups [Stark County and Columbus], the subcommittee felt that there was no question that both would do an outstanding job in hosting the championships and that both had a lot to offer. We feel like using both locations will give us the best of both worlds and that the real winners will be our participating schools and their fans.
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 and 1989.
-- From staff reports
E-mail: stowsports@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3113
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