OC Rivals hold first fall preseason practice

Photos by Charyl Wertman – The Albion/Medina OC Rivals varsity runs through a play during this afternoon’s first fall preseason practice session at Albion.

Preparations began in earnest for the fledgling Albion/Medina OC Rivals football team’s debut season with the start of fall preseason practices this afternoon at Albion.

After a series of summer camp sessions over the last couple of months, this three week preseason, which will include a scrimmage on August 29, will get the squad set for the OC Rivals historic first game on Thursday September 3 at Akron on the Tigers new artificial turf field.

“I’ve been coaching for 30 years and this is a super exciting chapter,” said Head Coach Eric Valley. “I’m very excited and have very high expectations of what we can have with this team. It’s a challenge but I know our coaches are up to it.”

“Everything has been going good,” said quarterback Preston Woodworth. “Everybody knows each other which really helps.”

“It’s really been going good,” agreed lineman Jackson Snook. “Everyone has the same goal and that goal is to win.”

“It looks like we have a lot of kids who can compete for spots and they have been picking up our system very well,” said Valley who points to the importance of having larger numbers on the merged squad. “Safety is always paramount and having larger numbers than if we had separate teams makes for a better team. Now you don’t have to put kids in positions they are not ready for.”

The OC Rivals Varsity, JV and Modified teams will be practicing at Albion this week and at Medina next week.

Albion/Medina becomes the 15th merged schools team among the 62 Section VI football squads.

A panoramic view of today’s practice sesssion.