Favorite HS FB stadium?

BirdDog10 said:
Without including PBTS or Fawcett/Benson, my favorites that I've been to/played at:

5 - Tie between Rex Lingruen Stadium, Liberty Center and Celina Stadium. Lingruen is built into a natural hill, pretty freakin intimidating place to play as a visitor. The recent updates have made it much better. Celina Stadium is just bout the closest you can get anywhere to a football game. Home stands almost stretch the entire field and the press box sits over the visitors bleachers and nearly reaches the sideline.
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4 - Stadium Park, Delphos. Home bleachers sit way up above field level, newer visitors bleachers are huge for D6/D7 schools. Seen and played in a lot of good games at this stadium. No track so all seats are close. Hopefully with the new turf I'll get to watch some playoff games here in the future.
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3 - Clymer Stadium, Columbus Grove. Donated by alumni Gary and Larry Clymer in 1996, it's just about as nice as you can get for a D6/D7 school. My homer pick (it's my list, I can do what I want) the Dogs have put up an impressive home record since it was built. The first 24 games at the stadium were all wins, and in the first 10 seasons we only had 5 home losses. Today the home record at Clymer is 93-34, 10-1 in playoff games. From the field the home bleachers feel like they're straight up in the air. The current visitors side was the home side before '96, so it's got 2 press boxes that are both bigger than most fields in the area, and separate concessions and restrooms for home and visitors sides. My favorite thing about the stadium is the massive Red Dog Beer logo on the side of the stadium lol. Only thing I would change if I could is have the same exact stadium without a track.
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2 - Donnell Stadium, Findlay. Tons of history, and incredibly well-maintained. Watched and played at this stadium and it's a great experience for both. Hard to beat the atmosphere of a big playoff game at Donnell.
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1 - Sidney Memorial Stadium - In my opinion the standard for new high school stadiums in the state. Almost everything about this stadium is perfect. Bleachers are close, but not at the sacrifice of large sidelines. Very nice separate restrooms and concessions for home and visitors. I'm sure the locker rooms on the inside can compare to the rest of the facility. If I could make another stadium in the state my home, it would be a toss up between this one and very few others.
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I hope to make it out to Clymer sometime. Looks like a great atmosphere.
 
I know I’m bias but it’s hard to beat watching a game at “Death Valley” on a fall Friday night
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Went to a lot of Cuyahoga Falls games in the '90's. The lack of a track gave it a great uniqueness.

Played my last regular season game at Green Street on the old grass in an absolute monsoon. Liked that stadium (even if was our rival's), but it being in that little valley down that hill made that game so much worse.
 
reganaustinjames said:
Went to a lot of Cuyahoga Falls games in the '90's. The lack of a track gave it a great uniqueness.

Played my last regular season game at Green Street on the old grass in an absolute monsoon. Liked that stadium (even if was our rival's), but it being in that little valley down that hill made that game so much worse.
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I remember that game well. Week 10 versus Walsh Jesuit in the 2001-2002 seaso. Started raining on Sunday Monday the week prior, all day Tuesday, Wednesday was nice, started on and off on Thursday Friday, and at 5pm Friday - the heavens just opened up.

Our band kids never took the field proper - they played their halftime show huddled close to the Irish bench. Even then as they left the field, some of them pulled right out of their shoes due to the several inches of mud.....

Great memories!
 
IMO people make WAY too huge a deal out of stadiums having a track. It really doesn't change your view in any way whatsoever.

Now, as a Cincinnati guy, the Pit is a great venue. That place was a sight to be seen in the late 90s, early 2000s when high school football attendance was at its pinnacle.... that place was always sold out. With that being said, you can't see anything if you are in the first 5 or 6 rows, since the stands start at field level.

In Cincy area, I also really enjoy Withrow's stadium as someone already mentioned..... it's incredibly unique. I also think Barnitz Stadium at Middletown High School may be the most under-rated venues.
 
Scipio said:
Mollenkopf in Warren
PBTS
Fawcett (RIP)
The Pit at Elder
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To me it is not the same since they tore down old Harding HS; has no sense of place. It also has a very disjointed feel like it was just dropped down into an open brown field with no architectural integrity.
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cincifbfan said:
IMO people make WAY too huge a deal out of stadiums having a track. It really doesn't change your view in any way whatsoever.

Now, as a Cincinnati guy, the Pit is a great venue. That place was a sight to be seen in the late 90s, early 2000s when high school football attendance was at its pinnacle.... that place was always sold out. With that being said, you can't see anything if you are in the first 5 or 6 rows, since the stands start at field level.

In Cincy area, I also really enjoy Withrow's stadium as someone already mentioned..... it's incredibly unique. I also think Barnitz Stadium at Middletown High School may be the most under-rated venues.
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Agree to disagree, I think the 30+ feet makes a difference. The thing about HS football is being close to the action which is something you cannot get with NCAA or NFL football, nothing like the sound of pads popping and hearing the signals being called. While lower rowed seats are tougher to see the action with no track once you get above the 1st couple of rows the view is unbeatable and with steeper the stands even better.
 
Here is an example of a stadium with poor pitch of the stands structure that affects the sight lines, Mentor's. Like the setting with the school on one side and a park like feel on the other but you better hope nobody of size is sitting in front of you. Also the higher you go you are even further away from the action.
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On the other end is Don Paul's borderline unsafe pitch
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In addition to my favorite stadiums that I've been to, here's some that I haven't been to that are on my Ohio bucket list:
The Pit - Elder
Tanks Memorial - Ironton
Harding Stadium - Steubenville
Booster Field - Marion Local
Hole Field - Versailles
PBTS - been there but not for a Massillon home game
 
Auggie said:
Here is an example of a stadium with poor pitch of the stands structure that affects the sight lines, Mentor's. Like the setting with the school on one side and a park like feel on the other but you better hope nobody of size is sitting in front of you. Also the higher you go you are even further away from the action.
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On the other end is Don Paul's borderline unsafe pitch
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The top of Mentor's stadium would still fee like it's a mile away though even without the track. I've seen both ends, fields with no track and terrible bleachers, and fields with a track but great, steep bleachers that feel closer. Just depends on the setup
 
Auggie said:
Agree to disagree, I think the 30+ feet makes a difference. The thing about HS football is being close to the action which is something you cannot get with NCAA or NFL football, nothing like the sound of pads popping and hearing the signals being called. While lower rowed seats are tougher to see the action with no track once you get above the 1st couple of rows the view is unbeatable and with steeper the stands even better.
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Definitely agree to disagree. That 30 feet does not make a difference at all, and the people who say it does are lying to themselves.

Being higher or lower definitely impacts your view exponentially more than a track, and I understand everyone has difference preference on how high they want to sit.

Now, my preference is to be higher when watching football, you get so see everything develop. I always sit in the last row in any stadium I go to.
 
cincifbfan said:
That 30 feet does not make a difference at all, and the people who say it does are lying to themselves.
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wow. My way is right, and nobody else's opinion matters.

So, it is OK to have a preference on how high you sit, but not OK to have a preference on how close to the field you are. Got it.
 
dograt said:
wow. My way is right, and nobody else's opinion matters.

So, it is OK to have a preference on how high you sit, but not OK to have a preference on how close to the field you are. Got it.
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It doesn't change the sightlines. You can't suddenly hear more or see more.

People complaining about tracks are people that always have to find something to complain about.
 
Tops
Massillon Paul Brown
Seiberling Stadium Norton. Made great improvements there recently
Medina Highland
Rudy Sharkey Stadium
Louisville Stadium
Mollenkauf
Barnfarts
Brode Field
 
Auggie said:
To me it is not the same since they tore down old Harding HS; has no sense of place. It also has a very disjointed feel like it was just dropped down into an open brown field with no architectural integrity.
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Always thought it was interesting how the home stands are offset towards the north end zone.

Best part about a trip to Warren to see a game?

Stopping at the Hot Dog Shoppe. Totally not good for you, but tastes soooo good.
 
Baller said:
Tops
Massillon Paul Brown
Seiberling Stadium Norton. Made great improvements there recently
Medina Highland
Rudy Sharkey Stadium
Louisville Stadium
Mollenkauf
Barnfarts
Brode Field
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Have they expanded the visitor side seating? Seems if they would that facility would be in high demand come playoff time. New facility with turf within a mile of the expressway.
 
I have not been to Wadsworth's new stadium but it looks really cool and I like the park like setting. Does appear to have limited parking though, anyone that has been to a game there care to elaborate?

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Brooksie said:
Always thought it was interesting how the home stands are offset towards the north end zone.

Best part about a trip to Warren to see a game?

Stopping at the Hot Dog Shoppe. Totally not good for you, but tastes soooo good.
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While the Hot Dog Shoppe is a Warren institution the only gameday eats would be Uncle Knick's Greek Fried Chicken at the BV Cafe. A tip, its great to eat in as they have a ton of football memorabilia including HS stuff in the bar area but they make all orders from scratch so plan on allowing 20-30 minutes for the fried chicken just to be prepared. Not an in and out dinning experience.

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cincifbfan said:
Definitely agree to disagree. That 30 feet does not make a difference at all, and the people who say it does are lying to themselves.
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How many feet would make a difference? If not 30, how about 40? 300? I wanna make sure I’m not lying to myself, lol.
 
cincifbfan said:
It doesn't change the sightlines. You can't suddenly hear more or see more.

People complaining about tracks are people that always have to find something to complain about.
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Not true at all. The best analogy I can give you is…you sit in your living room and watch your 60” TV…I take your 60” TV and replace it with a 40”…your sight line doesn’t change, but your viewing experience surly does.
 
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