High school fall sports practices begin across the Tuscarawas Valley
The 2022 high school fall sports season officially got underway Monday morning as football, boys and girls golf, boys and girls soccer, volleyball, boys and girls cross country and girls tennis began preparing for the upcoming campaign.
Football programs from across the Tuscarawas Valley, including Dover and New Philadelphia, hit the ground running under overcast conditions.
The Crimson Tornadoes, who are coming off a 12-1 record and a run to the Division III regional championship before falling to state champion Chardon, lifted in the weight room early Monday morning before taking to the Crater Stadium turf before 7 a.m.
Dover head football coach Dan Ifft, who is beginning his 28th season at the Crimson Tornadoes helm and 43rd year overall in coaching, had mixed feelings about his team's first practice.
"It's only the first day and I understand that, but we've got some work to do," said Ifft. "It's a work in progress. Our goal is to get better every day. The kids are hard workers, but its a process."
Dover football is coming off a stellar 12-1 season that saw the Crimson Tornadoes make it to the Division III regional championship before falling to eventual state champion Chardon.
Although Dover lost some very skilled players in the likes of Ayden Hall, T.C. Molk, Connor McGarry, Ryan McVicker and Tyler Little to graduation, a talented group that includes Ben Hamm, Jackson Storm, Simon Lorentz, Matt Gigax, Mitchell Martin and Lucas Lane return to the Crimson Tornadoes, who have moved up to Division II in 2022.
On the other side of the Tuscarawas River, New Philadelphia, under second season head coach Mike Johnson, went old school and practiced outside of Woody Hayes Quaker Stadium on natural grass of Tuscora Park due to track resurfacing taking place inside.
"It was good," said Johnson of his team's first two-a-day practice of the season. "It's only the first practice of the first day. Things will get better with every practice."
The likes of Kurtis and Konnor Tetzloff, Cameron Clarkson and Thad VanArsdalen are back from a team that went 6-5 and dropped a 39-20 decision to Hubbard in a Division III playoff opener.
Johnson begins his second season at the New Philadelphia helm after taking over for Matt Dennison.
"Not a lot has changed from last year to this year," said Johnson. "I've lot of great assistant coaches and that helps a lot."
It will be a short week for football as both the Crimson Tornadoes and Quakers will scrimmage on Saturday with Dover hosting GlenOak and New Philadelphia entertaining Northwest both at 10 a.m.
While the football programs were going through their paces, so were the boys and girls golf, boys and girls soccer, volleyball, boys and girls cross county cross country and girls tennis teams from across the area.
Golf and girls tennis play for real later this week with soccer and volleyball following in coming weeks.
Reach Roger at 330-364-8427 or roger.metzger@timesreporter.com on twitter:@TRSportsguy
This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: High school fall sports practices kick into high gear
