BLACKSBURG, Va. – The 2018 season was quite the whirlwind for Blacksburg High School football: a new coach, an undefeated regular season, and a state semifinal appearance.
But the home field advantage teams look foward to in the playoffs was out of the question for the Bruins due to their field's condition.Â
"Over time, it just got worse. There's not enough topsoil put down on top of the clay so when it does rain, it doesn't go anywhere, it just sits there," Blacksburg Athletic Club President Jason Massie said.Â
"We had huge ruts. We had players that had fallen. They couldn't perform to the level they should have been performing at," Charimain of the Turf Committee Dave Shelor added. "The field, it just went one week to the next . It was just unplayable."
With unplayable fields, the school decided to move its home games to Christiansburg High School, which has a turf field.Â
"Anywhere you play, you're going to create memories, and so we have a lot of great memories from playing over there at Christiansburg High School. They did a great job of hosting us," head football coach Eddie Sloss said.Â
With the soggy spring this year, football wasn't the only sport affected by a poor playing field. Turf soon became a topic of conversation.Â
"The artificial turf program, we're looking at somewhere between $750,000 to $1 million. We actually have raised $410,000," Shelor said.Â
Massie said most of the money raised has been through donors, "The town has been very good. All the people in the community have helped out. A lot of donors a lot of support. "
"The synthetic artifical turf I think will be nice for a high school playing surface. I think it will help, especially in the spring season when you have a lot of volume on the field at that time. It will help with the scheduling of games and keeping games on track," Sloss said.