There now exists, at Orrville High School's Red Rider Stadium, artificial turf, but nowhere on the actual field of play....just on the home and visitor sidelines.
Nevertheless, still very cool.
More pictures below, and I'll talk about why this was done.
I attended the Louisville scrimmage a few weeks ago and got into a conversation with a fellow Rider fan about the danger of the asphalt along both the home and visitor sidelines. Said it was only a matter of time until a player ended up getting tackled going out of bounds and end up with road rash (or worse) on that blacktop.
Said it was time to rip it out of there and replace it. I agreed...never before thinking much of it, but it made sense.
I guess there was no time like the present because replace it they did....the old asphalt and sod was removed and replaced with a crushed limestone base.
(That dark strip of remaining asphalt was the running path for the long jump pit.)
The turf was secured and in-filled with sand and rubber pellets to give it a cushion.
The end result looks pretty good in my opinion.
It will reduce the risk of injury on plays that end near the sideline and also the risk of players (who wear cleats) from losing their footing coming off the field.
It will also aid in keeping that area of the field from becoming trampled and muddy as each season wears on.
Normally that area is the first part of the field to wear, given the constant foot traffic and also the drain of any rain.
I was told that several local companies donated material and time, and a group of football dads and program supporters donated their time and weekend to getting this done before the home opener. Thanks to all those involved for taking their time and resources to make this happen.
It's a good start....and hopefully a test balloon for a full field's worth of turf in the near future.
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