County schools newly-turfed fields bring excitement to the upcoming gridiron season

Apr. 22—Anytime high school football spring practices start, the excitement begins to build about the upcoming fall gridiron season. That is definitely the case this fall, and it not just about the thrill of the classic Friday night sport.

At Pulaski County High School and Southwestern High School, the feel of the game will be drastically enhanced with the addition of artificial turf 'school color schemed' playing surfaces. In addition, both facilities will be equipped with state-of-the-art LED lights and new track surfaces. Pulaski County actually had their field upgraded with the new LED lights last fall.

Not only will the new artificial turf football fields add excitement to the already two strong gridiron programs, but it will have an infinite amount for benefits for the football teams and their respective schools, as a whole.

Longtime Pulaski County High School football coach John Hines was extremely happy to get a new playing field after dealing with muddy fields every season for the past 23 years.

"Turf fields are a huge advantage during bad weather weeks," stated Hines, who is going into his 24th year as the Maroons head football coach. "When we are playing a team that has turf, and it's a week of rain — as happens quite often in the fall in Kentucky — and we have been trying to practice in mud and slop. Can't run, can't stand up, makes for awful days of practice. If our opponent that week is practicing on turf, we are way behind. Huge disadvantage on game night."

"Also, it's a huge plus for our younger programs," Hines exclaimed. "We will never have to cancel a JV game because of a wet field late in the season, in an attempt to try to save the game field for playoffs. We don't have to say "no" to Northern Middle School, or PCYFL games because it's too wet to play. Huge for our younger players."

Hines went on to talk about the many other benefits of having an artificial-turf football field.

"Also, it's a plus for our locker room," Hines explained. "No more trying to wash out inches of mud in the floor, and in the showers. No more dust clouds in the air after mud games/practices. Now hopefully we can fix up our locker room. Without mud worries, we can upgrade to nicer lockers, flooring, and ventilation systems."

"This also allows our facility to be used for so many other activities," Hines added. "Classes can utilize it, graduation, and other assemblies can as well. When there is no worry of tearing up the surface, it can be used for many things."

The two schools athletic directors, Brian Miller and Alex Eaton, will be extra busy trying to manage and schedule time allotment for the use of the fields for other extra-circular activities besides just football.

Pulaski schools assistant superintendent Matt Cook is overseeing the completion of both of the schools' athletic field upgrades. Cook stated that both projects are planning to be completed by Aug. 1, well ahead of the schools' first football games.

"Everyone is super excited about the upgrades being made to the two high schools' football fields and tracks," Cooks stated. "This is something that will be good for both schools."

While the massive project comes with a hefty price tag of over $4 million, Cook explained that the long-term money saved with the new turf is almost impossible to calculate. Of course there will be much less maintenance involved in maintaining the fields, with such things as watering, mowing and striping.

"There are a lot of other factors where these fields will save us money," Cook stated. "As one example, we might have a big rivalry soccer game that might have got rained out before, but they can now move those games to the football fields and not lose that expected revenue."

As exciting as the new football fields and tracks will be for both schools, the new lighting systems have already been enjoyed by both the football teams and baseball teams at Pulaski County High School. The lights not only give both fields ample illumination coverage, but they have the versatility to put on colored lighted shows. The Maroons put on light shows after each touchdown scored this past football season, and now both programs are hoping for a large amount of festive light shows this fall.

While Pulaski County has already placed new lights on their football and baseball field, Southwestern will get new lights on their football and soccer field this fall.

"All these upgrades — with the lights, track and turf — will bring our facilities into the limelight," Hines stated. "We want to provide the best atmosphere for our kids. From the PCYFL, to the middle school programs, and all through our high schools. The excitement for football has never been this high in Pulaski County."

STEVE CORNELIUS is the CJ Sports Editor and can be reached at sports@somerset-kentucky.com. Follow him on Twitter at @CJSportseditor.