MADISON TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Practice won’t officially begin until August, but footballs will be flying all over Ram Field at STARTEK Stadium in the coming days.
High school football fans can get their preseason fix starting at 1 p.m. Tuesday at the STARTEK 7X7 High School Tournament. It is the first of three passing scrimmages STARTEK will sponsor at Madison in the coming week.
“Richland County has a rich history of high school football tradition and it is well past time we begin to hold annual events that bring other talented high school programs from north central Ohio to Mansfield,” said Tom Luther, STARTEK’s senior director of operations. “STARTEK is fortunate to work with a great team of administrators and leaders at Madison High School … to make events like this 7-on-7 happen.”
In addition to host Madison, teams from Ontario, Colonel Crawford, Highland, Mount Vernon, Wadsworth and Triway will be in action Tuesday. STARTEK is providing each team with dry-fit jerseys in their school’s colors.
“From a coach’s point of view, our goal is to give our players as much preparation for the upcoming season as possible,” Madison coach Jamie Masi said. “This environment will allow us to compete against a variety of schools from the Mansfield area as well as Akron, Cleveland and Columbus.
“Through the great contributions of our community, boosters and companies like STARTEK, we can do all of this in our own back yard.”
On Thursday, teams from Buckeye Valley, Tiffin Calvert, Cardington, River Valley and John F. Kennedy will visit Madison. On July 19, Cardington, Ontario, Arkon Kenmore, Wynford, Hillsdale, Crestview and Marion Harding will be in town.
“We are really looking forward to three great days of competition and hope the community comes out to (see) an early season preview,” Masi said.
Luther already was looking down the road.
“We believe this will be a great week of football,” Luther said, “and (we) look forward to years and years of this event.”
