BY DAVE SCHUTTE
Enquirer contributor
Pressure from irate fans, along with concern from school officials, resulted in the Ohio High School Athletic Association changing the site of Saturday's St. Xavier-Colerain football playoff game.
Rather than play the Division I regional championship at Princeton's 6,000-seat stadium, the game has been moved to 11,000-seat Welcome Stadium in Dayton.
Clair Muscaro, OHSAA commissioner, explained why Princeton was the first choice.
"You need to keep in mind that when we assign teams, we use past attendance records," Muscaro said. "Last year's game (Moeller-St. X) at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati drew only 6,000."
The 6,000 figure that Muscaro referred to was the number of tickets sold at the gate. Both St. Xavier and Moeller reported a presale at the school of about 4,000 tickets.
The site manager at Middletown was also contacted by Muscaro Sunday to get an attendance report on Saturday's Colerain-Centerville game.
"I was told there was less than 4,500 at that game," Muscaro said. "Colerain's principal (Linda Schulte) told me only 1,600 presale tickets were sold for the game."
However, Colerain athletic director Dan Moody disagreed. "We had almost 5,000 of our fans at the Centerville game," Moody said. "Centerville's crowd wasn't as big because their band was competing at a national competition."
Moody partially credited the fans with the switch.
"The fans took it upon themselves to call the OHSAA," Moody said. "We had numerous calls from angry people this morning but we didn't encourage them to call."
St. Xavier AD Pete Boylan was also pleased.
"In part, it was probably the shock expressed by both schools," Boylan said. "The state came to its senses and we're happy with the decision."
Colerain was given 4,000 tickets, which will go on sale today from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. St. Xavier will sell its 3,000 tickets beginning today from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The schools retain $1 from every presale ticket.
"They only gave us 3,000 which isn't enough," Boylan said. "We can get up to 6,000 if we need them."
Starting time for the game between the area's top two teams - Colerain was the Enquirer coaches poll champion and St. Xavier was No. 2 - is 7 p.m.
The winner advances to the state semifinals at a site to be named Sunday.
