Football teams won’t have to wait long for Week 1. The regular season begins Aug. 18, with most teams opening Aug. 22.
Centerville, fresh off an appearance in the Division I state semifinals, is hoping to make another deep postseason run in football this fall. The program is scheduled to begin the season with its annual Midnight Hits, a community event that features all levels of play from pee wee to high school.
The Elks have a new coach in John Puckett, who served as an assistant coach under Brent Ullery and previously served as the head coach at Vandalia Butler.
“I’ve been a head coach before; however, it’s a completely different animal,” Puckett said. “There’s a lot of things that go through my head: A. that you don’t think about as an assistant and B. and things at other programs you don’t think about. We have so many things going on at the same time with fundraising, community service and players playing other sports, whether it’s track, lacrosse or baseball. It’s been a whirlwind, but it’s been a lot of fun.”
Although football practice doesn’t officially start until Friday, teams are permitted to fulfill required acclimation days in order to wear full pads on the first day of practice.
“Early on (in his coaching career) you had that excitement leading up to the first day,” Puckett said. “The last 10 years it seems like when we get to the first day it’s just another day. There isn’t really that build up and that’s why it’s pretty cool that we’re able to do Midnight Hits on basically the first day of practice. It brings an air of excitement and that’s pretty cool.”
The Midnight Hits event began in the mid-2000s, Puckett said. This year, the event will begin at 5 p.m. and includes football practices for the bantam through middle school teams before the high school team takes the field at 10:45 p.m. There will also be carnival games, vendor booths, football training games and more.
“When it’s on a Friday night, it’s really special,” Puckett said. “It’s a great experience for our players and the community. It’s very enjoyable.”
The Elks beat Wayne 23-14 to claim their first regional title since 1991 and advance to the state semifinals for the third time in school history. They fell to Moeller 49-10 in the state semifinals.
They return several key players including senior quarterback Shane Cole and senior running back Parker Johnson. However, the Elks are a completely different team, Puckett said.
“I get asked all the time: ‘How are you guys going to be?,’ and I really don’t know yet,” he said. “I can’t really get a good gauge. There are some times I think we have a chance to be pretty good, and there’s other times I think we’re going to struggle with adversity. How are we going to handle that? ... We’re trying to create situations where we have to build trust as quickly as possible.”
After last year’s experience, the players understand what it takes to make a deep run.
“The guys that are back that played last year, their backs were against the wall at times last season,” Puckett said. “You can’t help but lean into that. It’s going to happen again this year, and they’ve built up the trust in themselves. They’ve reflected on it, and now they know how to respond.”
At Midnights Hits, the players will take the field at 10:45. There will be a running clock on the scoreboard set to go off at midnight.
“As soon as that clock hits zero, we’re already lined up, the ball is snapped and we’re unleashing hell on each other,” Puckett said. “It’ll be fun. As it gets closer to midnight, you can feel the tension. It’s pretty cool.”
The Centerville High School volleyball team will be kicking off a similar event the following night: Summer Night Lights. They’ll be hosting preseason scrimmages with several other teams in attendance, including Alter, Lakota East, Bellbrook, Miami East and Carmel (Ind.).
The event, which will have a portable gym floor moved onto the field at Centerville Stadium, will be held from 5:30-10:30 p.m. It will include a youth volleyball for fifth grade and under, bouncy houses and photo booths. Cost is $5.
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