By John Kiesewetter
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Edgewood Cougar fans line up for a bite to eat while tailgating before a Cougar football game. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

TRENTON - More than 90 minutes before kickoff, grandparents Bob and Wanda Larison lined up at the gate to get a front-row seat on the 30-yard line for the undefeated Edgewood High School Cougars.

Prep football is big throughout Greater Cincinnati. But in this small Butler County town, it's huge.

"Football is the biggest thing in Trenton. It's bigger than anything else," says Bob Larison, who attends nearly every Cougars home game with his wife, even though their son graduated from high school here 26 years ago.

Few things can bring out crowds, or unite a community, like a winning football team. And coach Steve Channell's winning tradition takes Edgewood to the state playoffs for a seventh consecutive season tonight, hosting Vandalia Butler at 7:30 p.m. at Edgewood's Kumler Field.

"You wouldn't believe there would be that many people here for a small town, but they really support it," said Cindy Brashear of Trenton, a city of about 10,000 just west of Middletown, during last Friday night's final regular-season game.

Signs proclaiming "Proud to be a Cougar," "Cougar Spirit," "Cougar Crossing" and "E Tradition" decorate yards across the 57-square-mile district encompassing Trenton, the tiny villages of Seven Mile and Jacksonburg, rural Wayne Township and part of St. Clair Township.

Blue-and-white Cougar flags line Trenton's Main Street, where shops sell Edgewood sweatshirts, jackets, T-shirts, teddy bears, towels, temporary tattoos, hats, blankets, key chains and license plate holders. Even McGee Super Market has a rack of Edgewood turtlenecks, vest sweaters and polo shirts by the bread and buns.

"People just can't seem to get enough of Edgewood stuff. If you don't have on something blue, you don't want to sit in the stands," says Mike McCoppin, a 1980 Edgewood graduate who operates W.E. Michael Sports here.

The hottest selling "spirit wear" item at games this fall has been blue paw print earrings and necklaces ($8 each).

The coolest item is the prototype Cougar bobblehead doll ($15), designed by the Edgewood Choraliers. The music organization has been taking orders all season for the first shipment due in today from China by way of Los Angeles - though it could be delayed by the California wildfires, says Diana Spradling, project chairwoman.

"A lot of them want them right away, but we only have the one," Spradling says.

Tonight, more fans than usual could be waiting for gates to open at 6 p.m. so they can tape blankets or towels on the aluminum stadium benches to reserve their seats. The team has averaged 4,000 people per game this fall, says Channell, also the high school athletic director. The high school has 983 students of the district's 3,363 enrollment.

"People putting out blankets where they want to sit has been a tradition here for years," says Channell, who is completing his 14th season as head coach here. Tonight would be his 100th career victory as head coach here.

Fan Tom Pritchard and his pals don't have to worry about blanket coverage this season. They have bought some of the 400 reserved seats near the center of the field.

They also have bought reserved parking - new this year - close to the field, where they tailgate before home games. Last week they dined on brats, metts, chili, pizza, cookies, chips and dip.

"I haven't missed a game in eight years," Pritchard says. "What else is there to do in Trenton on a Friday night?"

Kumler Field, across Ohio 73 from a cornfield, is the place to be for people of all ages.

While parents, grandparents and football fans fill the seats, several hundred middle school and elementary school kids hang out behind the stands. They're oblivious to the action on the field, where junior quarterback Matt Root has broken school records for passing yards (1,301) and touchdown passes (19).

The Cougars have outscored opponents 375-84 in 10 games this season.

Teenage girls with blue paws painted on their cheeks clutch their cell phones as they huddle in groups. Many of the young boys wear Cougar jerseys from Trenton's powerhouse Pee Wee football program, where the winning tradition begins.

The kindergarten/first-grade team was unbeaten this fall. So were the second-, sixth- and eighth-grade teams, says McCoppin, a former Edgewood schools construction manager.

"The last time the eighth-grade team lost a league game was the second grade," says McCoppin, whose son plays on the seventh-grade team that lost two games this fall. That's almost unacceptable in this town. "You lose more than two games, and it's considered an 'unsuccessful' season."

Edgewood officials are preparing for one of the largest crowds of the year, with the good weather and theirs being the only playoff game in Butler County this weekend.

"There's usually a big crowd, but it's going to be bigger for the playoffs, because we'll get people from Middletown and Hamilton and all over... who just like high school football games," Channell says.

"We'll be here early," Wanda Larison says. "It will be even more packed."

E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com