High School Football: 5 things to know in Week 1

Summer camp is over, it’s time to start playing for real this week. We have two defending state champions from the Miami Valley. Division V winner Coldwater hosts small school champ Ft. Recovery in week four.

Here are five things you need to know before this week’s first Touchdown 7 Friday night.

1. Chaminade Julienne opens its new Roger Glass Stadium on the school’s downtown campus. It’s the first time the Eagles will really have a “home field” advantage. The bad news? The first win in the new place won’t come easy against perennial small school power Marion Local on Friday night.

2. Miamisburg opens at West Carrollton in a game that’s been played for decades and is normally saved for the end of the season. The sad thing is, this could be the last time the neighboring schools will meet on the football field, even though the Pirates just joined the Vikings in the Greater Western Ohio Conference. It’s a game that hasn’t been competitive for several years.

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3. Friday nights get busier in New Madison as the Tri-Village Patriots play their first varsity football schedule this season. The Patriots are actually starting a year earlier than they had planned. Jefferson will be on the other side Friday night at the Patriots new stadium. Tri-Village will play an independent schedule this season before joining the Cross County Conference in 2017.

4. Coldwater goes after a fifth straight state title this season. The Cavaliers have been in state championship games seven years in a row. Chip Otten’s team has won 23 straight games. The Midwest Athletic Conference has produced a state champion 11 of the last 12 years.

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5. What does Raveion Hargrove do for an encore? The Trotwood running back rushed for 3,039 yards and 39 touchdowns last season as a freshman, and he didn’t play in two of the Rams games. Look for Hargrove to catch a few more passes and return some kicks, too. College coaches want to the 5-foot-7 Hargrove showcase some other talents.

Touchdown 7 comes your way every Friday night at 11:14 p.m. on WHIO-TV Ch. 7, bringing you highlights, scores and a whole lot more.

This week we might be a bit late due to the Cleveland-Tampa Bay exhibition football game. That is a national broadcast on CBS that kicks off at 8 p.m.

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