ST. CLAIRSVILLE – It is the football game the Ohio Valley has been waiting for all season.

The wait is nearly over as the “meetin’ of unbeatens” unfolds Thursday night at St. Clairsville when the Red Devils welcome Steubenville. Both teams are 8-0 and have clinched OHSAA playoff berths with hopes of a long postseason run.

A game of this magnitude also brings with it a boatload of extra prep work and planning for St. Clairsville Athletic Director Kelly Rine and some auxiliary groups and personnel.

Obviously, parking will be at a premium. Along those same lines, the media crunch will be of major proportions, as will seating. Concessions will undoubtedly need to prepare for an onslaught of additional customers.

A crowd of more than 5,000 is anticipated. That number is inflated by being the only game being played in the valley that night, attracting partisans from other schools.

“The biggest crowd I can remember here was the Shadyside-Bridgeport playoff game in 2010. Paid attendance was 4,500. I expect this game Thursday will top that,” Rine said. “The hype surrounding this game reminds of the 1996 regular-season game between Linsly and Bridgeport at Perkins Field when the Bulldogs were 9-0.

“We agreed on a Thursday night for three reasons,” he added. “It was to maximize revenue, provide an extra day of rest for a playoff game and for scouting purposes.”

St. Clairsville returns the trip to Steubenville next year in week 9. That game will also be played on a Thursday night at Harding Stadium.

Rine, Saints Club President Rick Ferrell and some others have been mapping plans for the game for about a month. Ferrell and the Saints Club are in charge of the parking for football games.

To accommodate the anticipated large number of vehicles that night, an extra parking venue is being created. The Saints Club will utilize an area called “Rock Field,” located at the south end of the stadium across St. Clair Street.

All told, more than 500 vehicles can be parked at $3 each. Portable lighting is being brought in to illuminate the parking venues.

No parking lots will open until 4 p.m. Gates open at 5 p.m. with kickoff slated for 7 p.m. The two teams and all workers that evening are directed to enter the east gate by the elementary school. Workers will not be admitted before 5 p.m.

Rine has taken steps to make more seating available.

“We are renting two sections of bleachers from the Belmont County Fair Board. That will boost our capacity to 1,600 on the visitors’ side. The home grandstand holds 2,000,” Rine said. “We will have seating for both bands in the end zones. There are no tickets remaining in the reserved section. Also, fans will not be able to re-enter once they enter the stadium which is a change from other games.”

Advance tickets become available Monday at Swan’s and Jenkins in St. Clairsville and both high schools. Tickets are $5 in advance and $7 at the gate.

With a record-setting crowd likely, security obviously will be beefed up.

“We have tripled the number of security personnel we have for normal games. We will have 12 officers on duty that day,” Rine said. “We will have officers from the sheriff’s department and local police departments. Because we are an open facility, security will be at the stadium all day.”

The game will certainly prove a media circus – one that Rine has well in hand.

“We will have three radio stations, TV9 and The Times Leader. We turned down Time Warner out of Columbus. They wanted to televise it live, but we wanted to be fair to TV 9,” Rine said. “We reached agreement with Steubenville on May 26 to play. Since then, we have embraced everything that goes with it.

“It is great exposure for our school, our football program and our kids,” he added. “Hosting multiple playoff games in the past, we have been able to put a good team in place to handle big games. We get great help from the city and local law enforcement.”

BUBBA’S BITS

WESTERVILLE CENTRAL edged Hiliard Darby, 17-13, Friday night in a matchup of 8-0 clubs. Coach John Magistro’s Warhawks will bid for perfection this week on the road against 5-4 Dublin Jerome. The St. John Central product has his charges sitting in second place in the Division I, Region 1 computer playoff ratings. Central has also clinched a share of the OCC Cardinal Division title. Read more about Magistro’s 9-0 campaign in my Thursday column.

RICH AUBER of Wheeling recorded a hole-in-one Oct. 20 on the No. 2 hole at Oglebay’s Crispin Course. He used a 7-iron on the 162-yard par 3. The ace was witnessed by Gregg Hamm and Jay Mosa.

WAY BACK in March, I picked the Kansas City Royals to be in the World Series. The New York Mets, however, were not on my radar. I was on the Washington Nationals’ bandwagon. I am going with the Mets to win it all, thanks to their arsenal of young arms.

GEORGE T. POLAND of St. Calirsville carded a hole-in-one on the No. 10 hole at Oglebay’s Cripsin Course on Oct. 21. He used a 6-iron on the 140-yard par 3. John Siewny and Gary Cunningham witnessed the ace.

Kapral may be reached at bkapral@timesleaderonline.com