By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

I am excited to announce that the 2023 Portage Sports High School Football Preview magazine is here!

Inside the preview are in-depth looks at all of the county’s teams, including Aurora, Crestwood, Field, Garfield, Kent Roosevelt, Mogadore, Ravenna, Rootstown, Southeast, Streetsboro, Waterloo and Windham. Team previews, schedules, historical listings and more.

In total, the preview consists of 36 full-color, card-stock pages filled with content.

While the preview offers an opportunity to learn about this year’s teams, it is also a great scrapbook-like memory piece to celebrate the season.

Anyone interested in ordering a preview can email me directly at tomnader@portagesports.com.

For those that may not have seen my post from a couple weeks ago explaining why the “preview” is now in hand and ready to distribute as we approach Week 3 of the season, it has a lot to do with the integrity of the product itself.

Teams do not start official practices until Aug. 1 so many of the team interviews needed to be respectful of the fact that coaches can’t speak on specifics of their team — or identify starters, backups and more before Aug. 1 or even shortly after. Rushing a team preview before having all of that content on the team does not make a lot of sense — or good reading.

Add in the fact that the Ohio High School Athletic Association pushed the start of the football season up earlier, and approximately 10 days for my printing company to produce the magazines, and you can very quickly begin to understand that having them in hands now was a reality that was worth a quality product for all of you.

A special thank you to all of the sponsors that supported the preview edition:

LEAD SPONSORS

Portage Community Bank

Ken Ganley Chevrolet of Aurora

Mogadore Athletic Boosters

AAA Plastics and Pallets

All-Pro Sports and Creations

The Portager

Meyers Fence Company

Brimfield Insurance

AURORA SPONSORS

Aurora All Sports Boosters

Ken Ganley Chevrolet of Aurora

Meyers Fence Company

CRESTWOOD SPONSORS

Ken Ganley Chevrolet of Aurora

Sheila Mathers Photography

Meyers Fence Company

FIELD SPONSORS

Zehnder Disposal

Meyers Fence Company

Schindler’s Custom Woodworking

Hometown Bank

Eldreth Photography

Power Tool Repair

Chery Taylor Photography

The Big Red Fund

GARFIELD SPONSORS

JAG All Sport Boosters

Sports XPress

Meyers Fence Company

KENT ROOSEVELT SPONSORS

Ken Ganley Chevrolet of Aurora

Darrah’s All-Star Academy

Kent Youth Basketball Association

Cheryl Taylor Photography

Meyers Fence Company

MOGADORE SPONSORS

Mogadore Athletic Boosters

Meyers Fence Company

RAVENNA SPONSORS

Meyers Fence Company

Sports XPress

John Davison State Farm Insurance

Hometown Bank

Cheryl Taylor Photography

Keegan’s Seasonal Services

Eric Schlaubach State Farm Insurance

Siciliano’s Pizzaria

ROOTSTOWN SPONSORS

Keegan’s Seasonal Services

Deez and Razorlined Barbershop

Hometown Bank

Sports XPress

Barb Streem’s Mary Kay Products

Nightwine Productions

Eric Schlaubach State Farm Insurance

Meyers Fence Company

Cheryl Taylor Photography

SOUTHEAST SPONSORS

All Pro Seamless gutters

Meyers Fence Company

Hometown Bank

Deez and Razorlined Barbershop

Southeast Athletic Booster Club

Sports XPress

STREETSBORO SPONSORS

Ken Ganley Chevrolet of Aurora

KMI Wellness

Meyers Fence Company

Sports XPress

Blasiole’s Pizza

Scott and Samantha Clark

WATERLOO SPONSORS

English Plumbing

Hamrick Packaging Systems

Waterloo Athletic Booster Club

Meyers Fence Company

Cheryl Taylor Photography

WINDHAM SPONSORS

Stoney’s Pizza

Meyers Fence Company

Sports Xpress