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Referee shortage causes high school football schedule changes in northwest Ohio

Ottawa Hills' week three game against Evergreen was forced to move to Thursday, Sept. 1 due to a shortage of officials.

OTTAWA HILLS, Ohio — The referee shortage continues to make its impact felt to northwest Ohio high school sports.

Ottawa Hills football announced that their week three game against Evergreen, originally scheduled for Friday, Sept. 2, was forced to move to Thursday, Sept. 1 to a shortage of officials.

"We'll make a positive of it. The kids are kind of excited to play on a Thursday night," said Ottawa Hills head coach Chris Hardman. "Unfortunately, there's a shortage of men and women that want to officiate and we just happened to get the short straw this night. We made do and Evergreen was willing to play on a Thursday."

Football is not the only sport feeling the effects, with some area volleyball teams and others also forced to adapt on the fly. High school baseball also felt the impact during the spring season as well with a lack of umpires.

"I think refereeing's a very tough job. There are no games if we don't have officials," said Hardman. "I think it's incumbent upon all of us to treat them with the respect that they have earned. We need them and we hope more young people will want to come out and give it a try."

Vanlue and Ridgedale's game scheduled for Friday, Aug. 26 was also moved to Saturday, Aug. 27 due to officiating conflicts.

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