Ohio High School Athletic Association executive director Jerry Snodgrass (center) is pictured sitting among Marysville High School students at a Monarch football game earlier in the season. MHS has been awarded Friday evening’s Division I playoff contest between Dublin Jerome and Springfield. (Journal-Tribune photo by Chad Williamson)
Marysville High School’s football season came to an end with last Friday’s 23-0 loss at Springfield in the Division I regional quarterfinals.
The Monarchs’ stadium, however, will still be open for business.
Marysville will host Friday evening’s D-I regional semifinal battle between Dublin Jerome (9-2) and Springfield (10-1).
MHS athletic director Joey Day explained the process of a school being selected as the host for a neutral site post-season contest.
“The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) typically looks at a lot of potential host sites,” Day told the Journal-Tribune Sunday afternoon. “They look for turf stadiums, which we now have, and the close proximity to the schools that are matched up for the second round (and beyond) of the playoffs.”
Day said Marysville officials put in offers as a host site early in the football season, knowing that the new turf field would be available.
Officials from the OHSAA recently visited the local stadium to get a feel for what it would be like to host a playoff game.
The decision to locate the Jerome-Springfield game at MHS was made over the weekend.
It will mark the first football playoff game not involving the Monarchs to be played on the local field.
MHS has hosted a first-round game in the past.
“I found out about it today in an e-mail,” said Day.
Most of the money that is generated by the game will go directly to the OHSAA. The prep sports governing body will assign and pay for officials to handle the contest.
Marysville will keep all of the money generated from concession stand sales.
The OHSAA will also pay the district what Day calls a “small, flat fee” to pay for items such as staffing the contest and use of the electricity at the stadium.
“Right now, I’m not sure how much that will be,” said Day.
The Monarch AD said being able to host a post-season game is a feather in Marysville’s cap.
“This is a very good way to showcase our facility,” he said. “This is a special opportunity to show others our community.”
The stadium was not ready for competition at the start of the 2019 season. As such, the Monarchs had to host Northland and Delaware Hayes at neutral sites (Olentangy and Hilliard Bradley respectively) during the first two weeks of the campaign.
MHS was finally able to play on its new turf on Sept. 27 and christened it with a 38-10 triumph over Big Walnut.
Day said the new field was the result of much cooperation.
“The community really came together to support this project,” he said. “We want to continue to elevate Marysville High School.”
Day said hosting a playoff contest is not only good for the school district, but the community in general.
“This will hopefully bring more customers to our local businesses, such as restaurants and gas stations,” he said.
Day said the Jerome-Springfield game may not be the only post-season contest that Marysville hosts this year.
“We’ll put in to host future games during the playoffs,” he said. “The selection process goes on a week-by-week basis, depending on the location of any two schools that play each other.”