With the 2013 football season fast approaching, maintenance crews are working hard to soften up the water-deprived field at Panther Stadium. Because of water shortages, as well as a broken water pump, areas of the field are without grass and extremely hard.
“There are several dead spots on the field,” explained veteran high school football official Don Haley. “It’s the worst that I’ve seen in 20 years. The ground is hard. The more you play on it, the worse it gets. If you don’t have grass cushioning, the kids have no protection.”
Hoping to lessen the risk of injuries, Cortez Middle School Principal Jamie Haukeness, who was recently assigned the responsibility of overseeing maintenance of the football field, is taking swift action.
“The amount of watering that is taking place at the field has doubled,” said Haukeness. “Watering will take place six times per week.”
In addition to the scheduled watering, watering will take place the night before games in order to thoroughly saturate and soften the field.
“Athlete safety is our primary concern,” said Haukeness. “It’s very important to soften the field up. Everyone involved realizes that we have some issues and we are doing everything that we can to improve the situation.”