What their coach calls a once in a lifetime opportunity will be afforded several Greenfield youngsters and their coaches Sunday when they get a chance to play in the Cincinnati Bengals’ Paycor Stadium.
“It’s a great opportunity and I’m super pumped for it and it’s something they’ll remember the rest of their life,” said Ryan Stark, the program administrator and head coach of the Tiger Youth Football Organization.
He said the jayvee team composed of third- and fourth-graders and varsity team composed of fifth- and sixth-graders, along with their cheerleaders and coaches, will play the first of 10 youth games at Paycor Stadium on Sunday. The jayvees play the first game of the day at 10 a.m. and the varsity team will take the field at 11 a.m.
For the jayvee games, Stark said the field will be cut into thirds and for the varsity games it will be cut in half. He said there will be eight other games that day with the last one starting at 7 p.m.
The Greenfield teams will be playing teams from nearby Frankfort Adena.
There is a group called Playbook that travels around the country renting major football fields and finding teams to play on them, Stark said. He said it reached out to him out of the blue.
“I had to ask twice just to make sure I understood,” Stark said. “It’s almost a once in a lifetime opportunity and the kids are super pumped. Just their drive and enthusiasm has skyrocketed in the last week or so.”
General admission tickets are $29 each and “gold seats” in the first four rows of the stadium are $49 each. Stark said there will be no tickets sales at the gate Sunday. He said tickets are available by visiting the Tiger Youth Football Organization’s Facebook page and looking for the link. He said tickets will also be on sale Tuesday and Thursday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. while the teams are practicing on the practice football field in Greenfield.
The Greenfield youth football program will receive a portion of the cost of each ticket it sells.
Stark said the Greenfield youth football program started by Randy Clouser and also formerly ran by Ray Sponcil shut down the last two years due to COVID-19 and is trying to get back on its feet.
“We’re grateful for the opportunity and hopefully we can get some supporters out there to see what kind of program we run,” Stark said.
For more information Stark can be reached at 937-763-0658.
Reach Jeff Gilliland at 937-402-2522.
