CINCINNATI — The Division I, Region 4 football showdown between Elder (12-0) and St. Xavier (9-2) is moving to Paycor Stadium, officials announced Tuesday.
It's a high-stakes game between two Cincinnati Catholic High School rivals, and has quickly become one of Cincinnati's hottest tickets.
Elder High School head football coach Doug Ramsey spoke with WCPO 9's Mike Dyer about the historic rivalry between the two teams.
"All those guys are friends, you know, and I think then it's happened so many times and there's been so many great games. I think if you just look back over the years, how many of the games have been one-score games have been just tight and really good football games," Ramsey said.
While 13,000 more fans can now witness this classic rivalry, the venue change to Paycor Stadium isn't a win for everyone involved.
Mason High School was scheduled to be the host school for the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) game. About one hour after tickets went on sale Monday afternoon, they sold out.
On Tuesday, OHSAA called an audible and moved the game to Paycor Stadium. Now 20,000 tickets are available. Dr. Wayne Black, a University of Cincinnati sports management associate professor, said he sees both sides of the coin.
"I understand why the game got moved, I think it's a really good thing that we're able to be in a spot where high school sports are valued culturally here in Cincinnati," Black said.
See the excitement building for this historic rivalry and hear from coaches about what makes this matchup so special in the player below:
Black is also the head wrestling coach for the girls team at Mason High School.
"For me, with girls wrestling being a newer program, the playoff game was a fundraiser for us, so we'll miss out on that opportunity to earn money," Black said.
The OHSAA said neutral sites get a rental stipend to host the game and gets to keep the revenue from concessions, parking and 50-50 raffles. But now that the game is at Paycor Stadium, Mason City Schools won't make that money.
The Cincinnati Bengals website is advertising $10 parking at surrounding stadium lots and parking garages.
"Life throws you curveballs, you got to figure it out," Black said. "The situation is out of our control, but there are things we can control, how we respond, so for me, it's going to be going back out, getting into the community, talking to people, trying to let people know we have a girls wrestling program and letting them know some of the valuable things that we're trying to grow and see if that's when people want to give back into."
We reached out to Mason City Schools on Wednesday for comment, as well as OHSAA, to find out if the district will be reimbursed. We also wanted to find out how much money the district spent on concessions for Friday's game. As of Wednesday night, we're still waiting for an answer from both organizations.
