When the 2025 high school football season began with conditioning back in July, coaches and players were met with temperatures which, at times, reached past 90 degrees with high humidity.

When area playoff teams took to the practice field earlier this week, they did so while the Mahoning Valley was under a winter weather advisory. By Tuesday, teams were preparing for their regional semifinal games on a blanket of snow.

By the time the high school football state tournament concludes on Dec. 6, temperatures could possibly dip below the freezing mark. The normal average temperature in Northeast Ohio on Dec. 6 is 35 degrees, though the thermometer has dropped as low as eight degrees on that date in 1977.

Indeed, football players and coaches in Northeast Ohio must battle through virtually ev

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