NEW RICHMOND, Ohio — New Richmond football coach Brian Pitzer looked around his home stadium and felt grateful Monday morning.
Eleven high school football teams arrived on the school campus to participate in the inaugural Ohio High School Football Coaches Association 7-on-7 Southwest Regional tournament.
“It’s a privilege that we get to host everybody out there today,” Pitzer said. “We’re really excited. The organization of it has been really great. The other opposing coaches that have been here today have been awesome. I’m excited that everybody’s here.”
Registered teams were aligned by male enrollment into Division I (large schools) and Division II (smaller schools).
Greater Cincinnati teams included Turpin, New Richmond, Colerain, Lakota East, Harrison, Taylor and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy.
Lakota East won the Division I regional championship while Tri-Village won the Division II regional title. The Division I state qualifiers next week include Lakota East, Turpin, Harrison and Tipp City Tippecanoe.
The Division II state qualifiers include Tri-Village, CHCA, Carlisle and Taylor.
“I think the biggest benefit is you get to compete against some teams that you may not,” Pitzer said. “We happen to be in the big division so we get to go up against Lakota East and Harrison and Turpin. Teams that we’re not probably ever going to schedule (during the regular season). But I’m excited that in 7-on-7, our kids can see a higher level of competition. I think everybody probably feels that way.”
Pitzer said the idea originated in January, and he jumped at the opportunity to have New Richmond host six games simultaneously.
Taylor coach David Dransman said the event is an “awesome” concept from a competition standpoint. Taylor earned the program’s first regional semifinal appearance (Division IV) this past season.
“We’ve got a lot of unproven guys right now, so it’s good to just see them come out here and compete,” Dransman said. “It’s been a lot of the same stuff since December. It’s fun to win and do those things but at the end of the day it’s 7-on-7. We have a lot more things we need to prepare before we hit August.”
Colerain coach Jordan Stevens was impressed with the operation of the day.
"I definitely liked that Ohio is doing this event now," Stevens said. "I think it just helped us compete and provide a little competition before getting into the season. It's a long time to wait from the end of football season to the following August. So 7 on 7 provides a little competition and fun. I think it's important for us at Colerain because we need to create individuals that really want to compete. It gave us an opportunity to positively and negatively evaluate our kids."
The OHSFCA tournament regions are divided into Northwest, Northeast, Southwest and Central.
The top four qualifiers from each region will qualify for the state championship June 23 at St. Charles Prep in Bexley.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association football practice officially begins Aug. 1. The season begins the week of Aug. 18, with the first Friday night scheduled for Aug. 22.
