Laying the foundation of a program can be difficult.
But it has to start somewhere.
For every football program out there, the building blocks toward a successful football season start well before Week 1 — in fact, before many people even think about the upcoming school year.
Notre Dame is one of many high school football teams who is hoping that their work from January onward will pay dividends. The Titans begin their 2026 season and the Steven Irwin era on Thursday evening when they play host to Hannibal River in one of the most hallowed grounds of football — Spartan Stadium — in a 7 p.m. tilt that officially opens up the 2026 high school football season.
For Irwin, the opportunity to show the buy-in of his roster to the Notre Dame community, particularly since the dead period came to a close earlier this summer, is one that he’s excited about.
“They’ve really bought into it,” Irwin said of his players. “We’ve had seven weeks to focus on one lift at a time, one day at a time. Our average lift total on our strength training has gone up 15 to 20 pounds on average throughout our 25-man roster. That aspect of the offseason’s really been incredible. Seeing their improvement — it just shows that they’re putting in the work. I always try to paint the picture for them about building the foundation of a home. You can’t have a great home without a foundation. Putting that brick in every single day, brick by brick, that one rep that you have in practice, that one rep you have in the weight room — you’ve really got to focus on the details. That’s the picture that we try to paint to them is the foundation of a house. You’ve got to lay the foundation before you can even consider what can come of, figuratively, the house. The guys are making improvements every week, not just on the football field, but in the weight room. This team’s really starting to come together now, too. You can really start to see the meshing and the gelling of a lot of guys who have grown up in the process. In every scrimmage and 7-on-7, they’ve really grown together.”
Fittingly, the high school football season starts at a place that has been memorable for many — Spartan Stadium. In addition to opening up its season at the facility that Portsmouth and Scioto County faithful proudly boast as the place where the first-ever night game in National Football League (NFL) history was held, Notre Dame will host five additional home games at the 98-year-old stadium.
Following the conclusion of the 2026 season, Spartan Stadium will be closed for renovations as Shawnee State University, who owns the facility now, will be undertaking extensive work to get the field ready for play in 2028. A decision has not been made public whether or not high school football contests will continue to be played following the renovations or if Shawnee State will permit football contests, athletic competitions or events to be held at Spartan Stadium when completed.
“The last time that I stepped on that field was when I played sixth grade pee-wee football (in 2008),” Irwin said. “To go out there and see that place, knowing that we’re in a really special place and we’re going to have six home games and we’re going to be the last team to play in the original Spartan Stadium is just surreal. It’s really beautiful. We were doing the stadium cleanup and getting it prepared for Thursday, and I stopped in (on Sunday). We had a bunch of parents helping. They and our boosters do a wonderful job over there (at Spartan Stadium). We have some of the greatest support in our community. I’m really grateful and really proud of that.”
Notre Dame will also start its season with an opponent that has a longstanding competitive history of its own.
Longtime River head coach Mike Flannery enters his 24th season as the head coach of the Pilots. The longest-tenured head coach in River football history has led the East District program, which competes in the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference (OVAC) to 13 winning seasons in those 24 years.
Flannery has won 144 games in those 24 years, an average of exactly six wins per season. They’ll sport multiple looks both offensively and defensively, according to Irwin.
“They have a lot of good size and a lot of strength,” Irwin said of River. “We’ve got a solid opponent and we’ve got our work cut out for us. I keep trying to tell our kids, ‘We’re in the early stages. We’re a younger team, but we do have a lot of experience. For me, the message is that we’ve got to focus on ourselves, because you don’t want to think too much about your opponent. You do want to prepare for your opponent, but for us, it’s focusing on us getting better as a team. I’m really trying to emphasize this week, ‘Respect the opponent, but we’ve really got to focus on ourselves.’”
Having scrimmaged Chillicothe Huntington and South Point already during the 2026 preseason, Irwin believes playing the OHSAA Division V Pointers and the OHSAA Division VI Huntsmen will help prepare the Titans for what they’ll see against River, who like Huntington Ross, is also a OHSAA Division VI squad.
“I wanted to expose these guys to as many different situations and as much adversity as possible,” Irwin said. “Every time we’ve had a competition or 7-on-7, there’s been something that has happened in that game or competition where we’ve had to overcome. When you give up a big play, you’ve got to come back and respond with a big play. That’s something that we’ve emphasized. You’ve got to take the punches, but you’ve also got to throw some yourself. It’s always better being the one that’s throwing the punches rather than taking them. Again, they’ve done a really good job buying into it, and I’m really proud of these guys. It’s been a long offseason and it’s something that they’re not really accustomed to. They’ve already had a fair share of adversity, but man, they keep showing up every day. I’m really proud of these guys.”
ADDITIONAL WEEK 1 MATCHUPS
Northwest at Piketon — Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026
Paul Carver isn’t in his first rodeo as a head coach, but the Northwest alum will enter Thursday’s contest at Piketon leading his alma mater for the first time.
Carver, who coached the offensive and defensive lines at Northwest under Bill Crabtree and also enjoyed assistant coaching stints at both Valley and West in between his time as a head coach at Oak Hill from 2019 to 2021, will look to draw the Mohawks closer to even in its series against Piketon. Carver led Oak Hill to a 5-5 season in its first year in SOC II competition in 2019 and helped the Oaks go 3-5 with a playoff victory during an abbreviated 2020 schedule.
The Redstreaks presently led the series between the two teams 24-19. Longtime Piketon head coach Tyler Gullion enters his 24th season leading the Redstreaks.
West at Fairland — Friday, Aug. 21, 2026
The highly-competitive series between the Senators and the Dragons has traditionally favored West, as the Senators are 25-11 in the 36 previous meetings against Fairland. However, since 2012, the Dragons hold a 6-5 edge in the series. Six of those 11 games have been decided by six points or less.
West head coach Todd Gilliland, who enters his 11th season as a head coach and his sixth as the Senators’ head man, is the second-longest tenured head man both in terms of his years served as will as his years served at one program.
Hopes are high for West with a strong returning nucleus of players and much consistency within the staff.
Portsmouth at Wheelersburg — Friday, Aug. 21
After a decade-long streak of not playing one another during the regular season, the Portsmouth and Wheelersburg rivalry, which was already set in stone to return to contests in 2027, will do so one season early in 2026 as the Pirates and Trojans will meet Friday evening at Ed Miller Stadium.
Portsmouth and Wheelersburg, who played one another every season from 1973 to 2016, hadn’t played one another since outside of a OHSAA Division V Regional Quarterfinal playoff matchup in 2023.
Wheelersburg has won 26 out of the 37 meetings between the two programs, including each of the last 10 under Rob Woodward.
Woodward, who has led Wheelersburg as its head coach since 2008, is the last coach standing in Scioto County who was hired as a head coach during the George Bush administration. He is 183-46 all-time as he enters his 19th season with the Pirates, and sports with him a consistent staff who has largely remained in place. The Pirates will have to replace the output of 15 graduating seniors, seven of which will continue their athletic careers in college across three different sports (football, basketball, track and field).
Brandon Sammons, who is in his first season as Portsmouth’s head coach and his fourth overall, went 17-14 in three seasons at Blanchester.
While numbers are currently low right now within the Trojans’ football program, early returns on his leadership and that of his staff have been highly thought of around the Portsmouth community, and Sammons himself has been pleased with the effort of the kids who have dedicated themselves to playing in 2026.
Paint Valley at Valley — Friday, Aug. 21
Nolan Crabtree, who enters his fifth season as the head coach of the Indians’ football outfit, continues to take on the difficult task of doubling as Valley’s football and baseball coach. He’s done it quite well, having led the Indians to two OHSAA Final Four appearances in less than a decade as Valley’s head skipper on the baseball diamond, while leading the Indians to an 8-3 record and a playoff appearance in the OHSAA Division V realm in 2025 on the gridiron.
Crabtree and his consistent staff do lose a handful of key players in running back Anthony Aaron, kicking threat Jaylen Bender and multi-sport dynamo Nolan Barnett — each of whom will play at the next level between Aaron and Bender in football and Barnett in baseball — but Valley, with a healthy roster in the mid-40s, has built up healthy depth within its football program as overall numbers within the high school program have gone up by nearly 15 players from 2023 to the present season.
Minford at Rock Hill — Friday, Aug. 21
Like Steven Irwin at Notre Dame, Josh Bailey will make his head coaching debut Friday when the Minford Falcons’ football program takes on the Rock Hill Redmen in Rock Hill on Friday. While the building process will take time, optimism appears to be hovering around the Minford program with Bailey, who graduated from East and has been an assistant at both Minford and West, in charge and former Notre Dame head coach Bob Ashley, along with longtime defensive coordinator JD Matiz, among those helping Bailey as assistants.
Bailey returns a talented nucleus of players in senior linebacker Bryce McLaughlin, who has made 267 tackles combined over the last two seasons and could potentially be a next-level player, along with Maddox Porter, Wyatt Swick Colt Donahoe and Austin Wheeler among others, who like McLaughlin sport great size for their respective positions.
Minford, who has played Rock Hill on and off again since 2012, has won seven out of the last 10 games in the series but will be looking for its first win over the Redmen since 2023.
Federal Hocking at Green — Friday, Aug. 21
Second-year head coach Shane Colvin looks to continue gathering momentum for his Green Bobcats’ football program Friday evening when Green takes on Federal Hocking in its season opener.
Green is optimistic for growth with a healthier roster than in seasons past, a core returning nucleus of players and an offseason program that has the Bobcats locked in.
This will be the fifth meeting all-time between the Bobcats and the Lancers. Green holds a 3-1 record against Federal Hocking in the team’s previous four meetings.
Millersport at East — Friday, Aug. 21
Much like Green, East also sports a strong nucleus of players. The Tartans sport six seniors, eight juniors and five sophomores as the classes East sports across the board have good balance in them.
Along with returning players such as Lindon Williams, Tanner Baughman, Bobby Bryant, Leon McKinney and Brayden Bradley, incoming freshman lineman Issac Lane has promising tools as well as a lineman.
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