Coaches like playoff games on Friday nights

OHSAA announced that the first four weeks of the playoffs would be contested on Friday night only.

Football fields across Ohio will be pretty dark on Saturdays in November.

On June 6, the Ohio High School Athletic Association announced that the first four weeks of the playoffs would be contested on Friday night only, instead of the previous format that had four divisions play on Friday night and three on Saturday.

The change was voted on during the monthly OHSAA Board of Directors meeting on June 1.

“For a few years now, we have studied the possibility of moving all playoff games to Friday nights for the first four rounds,” OHSAA Assistant Commissioner Beau Rugg said. “Due to so many more college football games being played on Saturday nights, attendance at our Saturday playoff games

has steadily declined, and more potential playoff sites have said they cannot host games on Saturdays. We now have enough playoff sites to handle all the games on one night, and the football coaches association was in support of this change, too, because teams will get to stay on their normal weekly schedule of playing on Friday night.”

It’s a move that area coaches do not seem to mind.

“It’s one of those things where I believe high school football is intended to be played on Fridays,” Avon coach Mike Elder said. “For us, it’s not going to be a change since we play our games on Friday, and it really just feels right.”

While Elder said he likes it as a coach, the fan in him is not so enthusiastic about the change.

“I can see where fans of high school football would get annoyed,” Elder said. “I can imagine that some people like watching a team on Friday and then head out to another game on Saturday. The fan in me can understand where there might be some backlash there.”

As with any change, Elder said some coaches and teams probably aren’t a fan of the change, but that there’s not way of knowing for sure until the 2017 playoffs come around.

“Sometimes you just have to give things a chance,” Elder said. “You might be used to Saturday playoff games, but you’ll find that the atmosphere of a Friday game is going to be better. Your stadiums will be filled more since the fans won’t have to decide between your team and Ohio State.”

One coach more than qualified to comment on the changes is Bay’s Ron Rutt.

The Rockets have made the playoffs three years in a row — playing their 2014 and 2015 playoff games on Friday and the 2016 game on Saturday.

“I think the change makes sense in terms of keeping a consistent schedule,” Rutt said. “Playing 10 weeks with games on Friday allows you to get a set schedule for practices. When you throw the first week of the playoffs in there on Saturday, it gives the practices a bit of a weird feeling, like things are a bit off.

“I think the change is a good choice.”

One area Rutt said could present challenges is determining neutral sites for the regional semifinals and finals.

“We’ve had to do some traveling for playoff games,

that’s for sure,” Rutt, whose teams have made playoff trips to Ashland and Toledo, said.

“I’m not sure how all of that will work out. Obviously, there will be more games going on, which means more stadiums will be used. I think we just have to hope that the OHSAA will take the travel time for each team into consideration when figuring out the neutral site and make it the best possible situation.”

In the end, the main thing is getting to Week 11.

“I’d bet there are plenty of teams that couldn’t care less what day they are playing,” Elder said. “They’re just happy to be in the playoffs. That’s just one of the goals teams have in a year, and if they can check it off, the day doesn’t matter.”

• Division III: Bay and Rocky River remain in Region 10.

• Division IV: Brookside, Clearview, Fairview, Firelands and Keystone move from Region 13 to join Vermilion in Region 14. Lutheran West also joins Region 14 after jumping from Division V, Region 17 due to Competitive Balance.

• Division V: Elyria Catholic remains in Region 18.

• Division VI: Columbia and Oberlin are joined in Region 21 by Wellington, which drops from Division V, Region 18 due to Competitive Balance.