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(Left) Tri-Village athletic director, Brad Gray, addresses the media
and the crowd on hand for the
biggest announcement in the history of
Patriot sports. Football at Tri-Village. (Right) Tri-Village
school
board member and graduate, Tim Bevins, proudly displays the Patriots
football helmet.
CNO photos by Danny Stockton, stocktonstudios.com
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Patriots
football: A work in progress
Much work left to be done
By George Starks
NEW MADISON- Now that football has finally become a reality at
Tri-Village, there are many things that must be accomplished.
A work in progress to make the now reality a success.
Starting in the fall of 2015, the junior high and junior varsity teams
will take the field.
The junior varsity will field only freshmen and sophomores.
At the start of the 2016 season, it will be the same format with the
junior class being involved In the second year of a junior varsity
schedule.
In 2017, Tri-Village will look to have a full varsity schedule but as
an independent program.
“We hope to have a Cross County Conference schedule in 2018,”
said Tri-Village athletic director Brad Gray. “We will still need to
get with the athletic directors at the other schools and work things
out but we are ready to make the decisions that will affect the student
athletes in the best possible way.”
Now that the wheels are in motion, one thing that is needed is a head
coach.
“We will go out and get us a first class football coach to run our
program,” said Patriot superintendent Josh Sagester. “You know as we’ll
as I do how important a coach is. We’re going to go out and find the
best we can find. To me, this is an attractive place. Right now, we’re
working with a lot of success and to me that will be a big draw.”
With the laws of the OHSAA, a new football school must do two years of
junior varsity and Sagester sees that as a plus in building a program.
“I think that’s what makes us so attractive,” Sagester pointed out.
“You’re getting to build the program from the ground up. No bad habits
and the only football this community is going to know is what this
coach brings to the table and to me, that’s an attractive thing is to
be the first coach in the history of the program. It’s going to be
exciting.”
Lake any football program, it all starts with numbers and according to
Sagester, the numbers are there starting in the pee wee program.
“We’ve seen the success at that level, admitted Sagester. “We had about
35 kids in grades 3-6 this year and we believe there will be more
involvement once kids realize that there’s going to be a higher level
of opportunity. There are districts in Ohio that have been able to
sustain similar programs and I don’t know why we’ll be any different.
We know it’s going to be some work and we’re not afraid of work. Ohio
is the hotbed of football and I know the feeling of the cleats going
down the concrete driveway. ”
With the idea of football being in the front of the minds of many
in the school district, Brad Gray, athletic director, has seen a vision
become reality.
“This is a dream come true,” admitted Gray. “Ever since I took the A.D.
job here (five years ago) it’s something I’ve wanted to happen. Once
Josh was on board and the Board of Education on board, it became a
reality. I think it’s going to be a great thing for our school and our
kids.”
“Our hopes is to play a varsity schedule in 2017 but we don’t know
realistically if the conference can get us in that soon,” Gray
continued. “I would be happy about that but I don’t know if it’s
realistic. I don’t know if this will change the landscape of the
conference with us coming in. We’ve had a youth program that has held
steady for quite some time without a light at the end of the tunnel for
these kids so we believe we have the ability to sustain this based on
our youth program.”
With the junior high and junior varsity getting the ball rolling this
fall, it all starts with the junior high kids.
Lee Morris, junior high principle, is excited just knowing it will
start with his kids at that level.
“I am excited because we’re making an investment in our students,” said
Morris. “We go to the drawing table every day and try to figure out
ways that we can help out kids improve themselves. We felt like this
was a missing piece of our puzzle. We felt like everybody sitting at
the table tonight is committed to doing their part. Now, it’s our job
to go to our student body and encourage them to do their part. When the
first snap takes place that will be a sign that says for every
individual, “I’ve done my part.”
According to Gray, the kids will use the old soccer field behind the
school at this point. The field has an underground water system so the
ability to keep the field nice all year round will help the program to
have a nice field to play the games on.
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