“I can’t think of a better experience for a high school football player,” said Fairmont coach Dave Miller, who has coached in the game since 2016. “You’ve got a packed house here at Roush Stadium. You have 7,000 to 8,000 people. You’ve got the entire community. We moved it to Thursday, which I think is great, because it makes it one of the few games around that’s played on a Thursday to open the season.”
The Knights and Firebirds start the 2025 season at 7 p.m. Thursday in the 58th edition of the Battle of Kettering. The series started in 1965. Alter alternated playing Fairmont East and Fairmont West until the schools merged in 1983.
“I love it. It’s just an electric atmosphere,” Miller said. “The kids are back in school, so your student sections are packed on both sides. And the great thing about — I’ve said it numerous times — is we have mutual respect for each other. When we’re done with this one, we root for each other. We help each other out. It’s really the way it’s supposed to be in a rivalry, especially at the high school level."
Fairmont beat Alter 24-7 last season and has won four straight games in the series since Alter’s 21-7 victory in 2019. It’s Fairmont’s longest winning streak in the series since it won seven straight games against Alter from 1994-2000.
“We had our luncheon the other day and (Domsitz) brought that up,” Miller said. “I told our guys, ‘That’s serious. You better wake up because they’re coming after you.’ I know that’s fuel for the fire.”
“You wonder sometimes how much you should use it,” Domsitz said. “I don’t want them to dwell on the negative. Of course, we would like to turn that around. I think there’s no question it should serve as some motivation for us.”
Fairmont’s recent dominance — six victories in the last seven matchups — followed an eight-game winning streak by Alter (2009-16). That would have been a 12-game winning streak, but Alter was forced to forfeit a 39-7 victory in 2008 because it used an ineligible player for a few plays.
Fairmont finished 9-3 last season and tied Centerville atop the Greater Western Ohio Conference standings with a 6-1 record.
One of Fairmont’s top returners is junior fullback Logan Doty, who rushed for 1,194 yards and 25 touchdowns last season.
Seniors Kameron Thornton and Nolan Stringer and junior Damien Pattin will also get carries in Fairmont’s run-heavy offense.
Alter finished 8-6 last season. After a 3-5 start, it won its last two regular-season games and then three playoff games, reaching the regional final before losing 26-12 to Cincinnati Taft.
Domsitz said the keys to beating Fairmont haven’t changed over the years.
“We’ve got to be able to handle their size,” he said. “We’ve got to be able to stop their offense. If it’s 4th-and-2, it’s not a punting situation for coach Miller. He’s going for it. On offense, they control the football. You’ve got to get them in a situation where you force them to punt. Defensively, we’re going to have to be able to move their people and sort of reestablish the line of scrimmage on their side of the ball. If we can’t do that, we’re not going to be able to move the football ourselves.”
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