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Home > Blogs > High School Huddle > Archives > 2009 > May > 07 > Entry
2009 Herbstreit ‘challenge’ unleashed
FIFTH ANNUAL HERBSTREIT
VARSITY FOOTBALL SERIES
(at Ohio Stadium, Columbus)
Saturday, Aug. 29
St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale) vs. Upper Arlington, noon (ESPN)
Westerville South vs. Hilliard Davidson, 3:30 p.m. (ESPNU).
Sunday, Aug. 30
Olentangy Liberty vs. Dublin Coffman, noon (ESPNU)
Orange Lutheran (Calif.) vs. Pickerington Central, 3:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
ECONOMY CAUSES DOWNSIZE
TO 4 GAMES (FROM 11 IN 2008)
The nation’s economic downturn has forced the Kirk Herbstreit Varsity Football Series to downsize to four Ohio games this fall, but the series hopes to rebound strong in 2010.
“This event is very important to me,” Herbstreit said. “A big part of my vision is to have Ohio against the best teams in the nation year after year. We’ve done that in the past. This year, we’ve had to scale back. It all has to do with (economic) cutbacks.
“Hopefully in 2010 and beyond, we’ll get back to what the original concept and idea was.”
From 11 games at two sites in 2008 to four games at one site in 2009, Ohio Stadium in Columbus is the focal point of the fifth annual series on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 29-30.
Defending national prep champion St Thomas Aquinas High School of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Lutheran High School of Orange County, Calif., are the marquee teams invading Ohio Stadium for a pair of nationally-televised doubleheaders.
Jim Herbstreit, Kirk’s father and matchmaker for the Ohio series, announced the matchups on Thursday, May 7.
In the opener on Saturday, Aug. 29, St. Thomas Aquinas faces Upper Arlington at noon (ESPN), followed by Westerville South vs. Hilliard Davidson at 3:30 p.m. (ESPNU).
Olentangy Liberty of Powell, Ohio, meets Dublin Coffman at noon on Sunday, Aug. 30, followed by Orange Lutheran vs. Pickerington Central at 3:30 p.m. Both games will also be televised on ESPNU.
“It’s a little bit of a departure from what we’ve done in the past,” Jim Herbstreit said. “We have two games that challenge the outside (out-of-state teams) and two games that are local. I’d like to see Ohio win the Orange Lutheran or the St. Thomas Aquinas game, but that’s going to be tough.”
Chicago-based Intersport owns and promotes the series that was formerly known as the Kirk Herbstreit Challenge.
Jim Herbstreit made it clear he wants Cincinnati powerhouses Elder and St. Xavier back on board, and said he also wants to include Dayton and Cleveland area schools “as the economy recovers. That’s what we’re hoping for.”
Contact Chick Ludwig at cludwig@DaytonDailyNews.com
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: Football
Comments
By bogey golf
May 7, 2009 10:33 PM | Link to this
Sounds like the games will be gone next year! Herbstreit’s father sold out….money counts Ohio doesn’t matter!!!By Josh
May 11, 2009 10:04 PM | Link to this
This is the worst series ever.By Juantia
August 13, 2009 2:05 AM | Link to this
I think that the Olentangy Liberty vs. Coffman will be a great game. I go to Liberty and in the past we have beat Coffman and they have beaten us, so to see who will be the better out of the two teams will be exciting. Plus, we at Liberty are treating this as just another game because our season opener last year was against Coffman and they beat us. So the Patriots are after redemption from 2008 because 2009 is our year. We also hope that after we play in the Classic that we go on to make school history and make it past the second round of the playoffs. We have been to the playoffs five times and our school has only been around for six years. Go Patriots…Beat Coffman!!!