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 every type of weather condition imaginable over the course of a season.

Some weather extremes are better than others, according to West Branch coach Tim Cooper.

“Personally, I don’t mind the heat, I don’t mind the cold,” Cooper said. “In fact, I’m OK with rain and snow to a large degree. For me, the biggest concern is always the wind. If we have strong winds at the start of a game, that’s going to get my attention more than any other weather event.

“For me, wind is the weather nightmare.”

West Branch travels to Perry tonight for a Division IV, Region 13, semifinal game. Cooper is hopeful that this trip up north is met with calmer conditions than a previous trip to Perry.

“We had a playoff game there a few years back, and there were constant 20 to 25 mph winds with even bigger gusts throughout the entire night,” Cooper said. “It was tough for us to get into a passing rhythm.”

An even bigger nightmare for Cooper was the 2022 Region 13 title game between West Branch and Jefferson, played at Niles’ Bo Rein Stadium.

Jefferson defeated the top-seeded Warriors 41-37. Record-setting West Branch quarterback Dru DeShields completed just nine of his 27 passes on a night that included snow and constant gusting winds.

“Because of the importance of that game, that night still stings more than any other loss,” Cooper said. “Jefferson did everything right; they earned that win. But I felt like we were the better team, and the wind just completely eliminated what we were able to do at an elite level all season leading up to that game.”

Cooper took this week’s snow and cold temperatures in stride, saying he didn’t need to adjust the practice schedule due to weather concerns.

“It helps that we now have turf, we don’t have to worry about tearing up our field when it gets cold and wet,” Cooper said. “In the past, we may have looked to move a practice to YSU because of field conditions. That wasn’t a concern this year. I don’t see us moving indoors unless we’re dealing with extreme cold temperatures.”

Cooper says his ideal playing conditions would be “sunny and 75 degrees.” Still, he would welcome a blast of snow tonight, as long as it occurred in otherwise calm conditions.

“There would be nothing wrong with four or five inches of snow,” Cooper said with a laugh. “Snow tends to neutralize the pass rush.”

Given the choice, McDonald coach Dan Williams would opt to play in extreme heat rather than extreme cold. Williams noted that “there is a different style of hitting” that occurs when the temperatures drop well below the freezing mark.

“When those pads and helmets start freezing up and you’re putting frozen plastic on plastic, it’s a different kind of sting,” Williams said. “It just hurts more, a hard shot takes longer to shake off. I just think there is less chance of injury playing in the heat.”

McDonald held an indoor film session and walk-through on Monday, but Williams was not shying away from the elements the rest of the week as the Devils prepared for tonight’s Division VII, Region 25, semifinal home game against Monroeville.

“You just dress warm and battle the elements, because the further you get into the tournament, the worse the weather gets,” Williams said. “You just have to deal with it.”

What Williams doesn’t like to deal with is rain. He believes that rain is the most difficult of all weather elements to deal with, and says that “a combination of rain and cold weather makes for terrible conditions.”

“Being an ex-quarterback, I never liked playing in the rain, and even today as a coach, I just feel like it’s the most difficult condition to play in,” Williams said. “No matter how talented you are, no matter how well-prepared, rain is an equalizer that can alter the outcome of a game. And when you have the combination of rain and cold temperatures, that’s the worst.”

Williams reflected back to a pair of rain-related games he was involved in – one as a player and the other as a coach.

“When I was a junior in high school, we played Springfield at our place, and the field was a complete mud bowl,” Williams said. “The track around the field looked like a mote. It was completely filled with water. The field was literally surrounded by water.”

In that game, McDonald scored an early touchdown and prevailed 6-2.

More recently, Williams recalled a loss to Jackson-Milton in a game that was decided in the fourth overtime.

“It rained so hard from start to finish, it was a torrential downpour that never let up,” Williams said. “At the time, I thought we were a better team on a dry field, but again, anything can happen in those conditions.”

Poland coach Tom Pavlansky, whose team plays tonight at Girard, insists that “any night is a great night for football.” Still, Pavlansky also acknowledged that a very rainy night can cause the best laid plans to go astray.

“A really wet night is always my biggest concern,” Pavlansky said. “It’s always tough handling the ball in the rain. It presents a big challenge from an offensive point of view; it limits the offense, which gives an advantage to the defense.

“Any chance we get to practice with a wet ball, we do so because you never know what it’s going to be like on a Friday night in November in Northeast Ohio.”

Despite his disdain for wet weather, there was a time when a torrential storm may have played in Pavlansky’s favor.

While coaching at Lakeview in 2007, Pavlansky said that his team opened the season at Painesville Harvey. Led by Ohio State recruit Chris Fields and quarterback Mickey Mohner, Painesville raced out to a 33-14 lead.

The game included a nearly three-hour delay due to a thunderstorm. When the contest eventually resumed at 10:30 p.m., Lakeview rallied for a 37-34 victory.

“We made the decision that we were not coming back Saturday morning to finish the game, and their administration agreed to finish the game that night,” Pavlansky said. “That delay gave us time to figure out how to defend Fields and Mohner.”

While not fond of playing in cold temperatures, Pavlansky said a cold, dry night is better than a warm but rainy evening.

“As I’m getting older, I feel that cold moisture in my bones,” Pavlansky said. “But I can layer up with the best of them. I’ll take 30 degrees on a dry night.”

Like Williams, Cardinal Mooney coach Frank Colaprete believes that the combination of dampness and cold temperatures creates the biggest weather challenge on the football field. Yet while there was snow and wind chill temperatures dropping into the 20s earlier this week, Mooney stayed the course in terms of its practice schedule.

“We figure if you have to play in it, you have to learn how to deal with it in practice,” Colaprete said. “But yeah, when you have really cold temperatures and rain or snow, you get that icy feeling in your face, and the chill right through your bones. It’s tricky, you have to wear something to block the rain and cold, but you can’t wear too much. The ball just seems to rattle on throws. It’s a challenge.

“Extreme heat is a different beast. You can rest. You can get hydrated. I guess it comes down to doing a good job of getting acclimated to the elements.”

Mooney hosts Garrettsville Garfield tonight at Stambaugh Stadium, with the winner taking on either Poland or Girard.

All of tonight’s winners will advance to title games in their respective regions one week from tonight.