The temperatures have many immersed in summer but Stark County high school football fans have their minds squarely on the fall as area teams took the field for the first official practice day of the year Thursday. You'd be hard pressed to find an area player or coach not excited about putting on pads for the first time in 2024.
"The kids are excited," Hoover High School head coach Brian Baum said. "We had two good practices to start things off and the kids were ready. They have high expectations for themselves and they were ready to come out and get after it. The coaching staff was excited and ready to go as well. It really livened things up around here today."
There were similar emotions and feelings across the county. Nearly a half hour to the east, players from Alliance High School were running through a variety of position drills in the 90-plus degree temperatures. There were plenty of smiles and cheers, and few complaints about the heat.
"Everybody is thrilled," Alliance head coach Tim Goodman said. "This is what the kids have been working toward all summer. They've had some camp days where they were able to get out in shorts and T-shirts but sometimes that doesn't feel like real football to them. They know the season is here now and they are all excited about it."
Teams will begin working on installing offensive and defensive packages in anticipation of the start of the regular season on the week of Aug. 19. The focus on the early days of practice is to make sure area teams have strong fundamentals.
"For the first practice we are making sure that we have all of the basic stuff down," Baum said. "It's always important to make sure you are working with good technique and proper form. I feel like we did that today. I thought we did a good job with that in both of our practices."
Finding ways to make the long, humid, two-a-days in summer is also a priority.
"We always want to make sure the kids are having fun as we go through the process," Goodman said. "There is always a lot of excitement early and I think every team is optimistic at this point. Our goal is going to be just to get better every day and worry about ourselves right now. If you take care of that, everything else tends to work itself out."
Watch Ohio High School Football Live on the NFHS Network all season
Expectations are always high in North Canton for the Hoover Vikings. This season will be no different. Hoover brings back several key players, such as Zac Braucher, Cole Rembielak, Bryce Roach and Drew Ziarko.
"Having that kind of experience is really important," Baum said. "The kids definitely know what is expected of them and they are doing a great job of helping out the younger players on the team. We have a few positions that we are working to solidify but everybody is excited. We're hoping for a lot of exciting Friday nights when the regular season gets underway later in August."
When does the 2024 OHSAA high school football season begin?
Dates to remember
- August 1: Practice begins
- Aug. 9: Scrimmages begin in Stark County area
- Aug. 22-23: Regular season begins
- Oct. 26: Regular season concludes
- Oct. 27: OHSAA playoff qualifying teams are revealed
- Nov. 1: First round of regional playoffs
- No. 8: Regional quarterfinal games are played
- Nov. 15: Regional semifinal games are contested
- Nov. 22: Reginal final games are held
- Nov. 29: State semifinal games get underway
- Dec. 5-Dec. 7: State championship games played at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium
Reach Cliff at cliff.hickman@cantonrep.com
On X: @chickmanREP
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This article originally appeared on The Repository: 2024 Ohio high school football | 'Thrilled' ... 'excited': OHSAA practices begin
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