By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Dayton High School football players will begin preseason practice Thursday on a new synthetic turf field that’s part of a $15 million athletic complex being built on property adjacent to the high school.
Head football coach Jesse Herbst said the multi-purpose stadium is expected to be completed before the football team’s first home game on Aug. 29 against Pendleton County. For the last 90 years, the Greendevils practiced and played home games at O.W. Davis Field that was built during the 1930s.
“This is very much needed and a long time coming,” said Herbst, a former Dayton football player who has been the team’s head coach for the last six seasons.
A field house is also being built on the property located between Dayton High School and Lincoln Elementary School that was purchased by the school board over several years. It will provide indoor practice areas, including batting cages for baseball and softball.
Groundbreaking for the Dayton athletic complex took place in April of 2024. That was six months before Bellevue and Newport Central Catholic launched similar projects.
NewCath is building its first on-campus athletic complex for football, soccer and track. Bellevue is upgrading Leo Gilligan Field and Ben Flora Gymnasium. Neither of those sites have their synthetic turf playing surfaces in place yet.
High school football teams are permitted to have non-contact practice in helmets only on July 10. Practice in full pads can begin on Aug. 1 to prepare for season-opening games on Aug. 22.
Last season, Northern Kentucky football teams played in three of the six state championship games.
Beechwood regained the Class 2A title with a 50-34 win over Owensboro Catholic. In the Class 5A final, Bowling Green defeated Cooper, 37-20, and Louisville Trinity defeated Ryle, 42-23, to take the Class 6A title.
This will be the first season of varsity football for St. Henry High School. The Crusaders competed in freshman and junior varsity games last year to begin the transition to varsity competition under veteran head coach Tim Odom.
Three local football teams – Simon Kenton, Holmes and Conner — will begin preseason practice with new head coaches.
Joe Wynn took charge of the Simon Kenton program in January and Holmes promoted Jon Hopkins from assistant to head coach in May. Conner hired Noel Rash a few days after the unexpected death of long-time head coach Dave Trosper in June.