Vote for Stark County's surprise high school football team of 2025

As the start of the 2025 Ohio high school football regular season approaches, we're spending the preseason looking ahead through assorted Stark County preseason reader polls.

Your vote will determine Stark County's preseason picks as the top players and teams for the season ahead.

We continue with who you think will be the surprise of the 2025 season from the 10 teams listed here and above the poll — which will be live until 5 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7. The winner will be announced Friday morning on CantonRep.com. 

For the purposes of a "surprise team" to be in included in this poll, we went with the 10 Stark County-area teams who did not qualify for the 2024 OHSAA state playoffs.

Stark County high school football surprise team for 2025, in alphabetical order, with last year's record 

• Alliance, 4-6
• East Canton, 3-7
• GlenOak, 1-9
• Louisville, 4-6
• Marlington, 2-8
• Minerva, 1-9
• Sandy Valley, 5-5
• St. Thomas Aquinas, 1-9
• Tusky Valley, 2-8
• Tuslaw, 2-8

A look at the Best of 2024-25 Stark County High School winners

• Date - Winner
• June 20 - Girls Team of the Year: Minerva cross country
• June 27 - Boys Team of the Year: Lake Center baseball
• July 4 - Girls Athlete of the Year: Kyleigh Lippincott, Minerva
• July 11 - Boys Athlete of the Year: Collin Sullivan, Fairless
• July 18 - Girls Coach of the Year: Stephanie Tortola, Marlington volleyball
• July 25 - Boys Coach of the Year: Shane Byler, Lake Center Christian baseball

The Canton Repository sports department can be contacted via email at sports@cantonrep.com.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Stark County High School Football Surprise Team of 2025, vote now