Time to open the gates for high school football

Richwoods has a new entrance to Endress Field located near the northwest corner of the school. The new entrance to Richwoods Stadium, complete with an arch and iron gates, is the cumulination of several years of fund-raising through the Buy a Block campaign and the school?s 12th-man club. It?s time to turn on the lights for some Friday night football. Here?s a look at what to expect as high schools open the 2012 football season.

MONMOUHT-ROSEVILLE: TWO PAIRS

The Monmouth-Roseville football team will be sporting new jerseys and helmets this year. Previously, M-R only wore silver pants, but when they ordered new Nike silver pants this season they also added navy pants to give the Titans options for Friday nights. The team has also painted their helmets, from a metallic Navy to a flat Navy, a color that has become more popular the last few season on the collegiate level.

CANTON: NEW LIGHTS

Things are certainly brighter in Canton, where Fahnestock Field this season has new lights.

?The first time they turned them on we thought we were on the sun,? Little Giants coach Justin Miller said.

School athletics director Jon Grzanich said the new lights were part of a life/health safety upgrade at Canton.

EL PASO-GRIDLEY: OFF THE GRID

The lights will be on at the high school football field in Gridley for the first time in eight years Friday night.

Electrical issues with the lights at El Paso, which has been the host of the Titans since the consolidation in 2004, has forced the team to make the seven-mile jaunt to Gridley this season for home games.

?It will be pretty sweet to get the Friday Night lights back at Gridley,? EP-G coach Stephen Rigsby said. ?People over there are really excited about it and our kids are pretty excited about the fact they get to play over there.?

Rigsby is a 1993 El Paso graduate and played against assistant coach Matt Jenkins, a 1994 Gridley grad.

?He?s my defensive coordinator, so that?s been fun too,? Rigsby said of Jenkins.

Renovation plans are still on the table for the field and updated track at El Paso, but final decisions on what those plans are and how long it will take are still to be determined.

FARMINGTON: NET GAIN

Farmers senior linebacker/running back Seth Bales connected on 23 of 25 extra points last year. So coach Casey Martin was so thrilled to have a decent kicker this season that the team purchased a kicking net for the first time in his seven years as head coach at Farmington.

FIELDCREST: NEWLY KNIGHTED

Fieldcrest redesigned its logo in conjunction with its 20th anniversary of the high school?s consolidations.

Former Knights student-athlete Will Wyss, a senior graphics art student at the University of Illinois, retooled the logo and the mascot. Several were created. Some feature a slicker font for the word Fieldcrest that incorporates swords into the ?F? and the ?T? of the school name, as well as a tweaked Knight. Football helmets will have the new ?F? on them.

?It?s a tremendous package. He did a super job,? Fieldcrest A.D. Dan Wieczorek said of Wyss, whose mother is an art teacher at the school.

LEWISTOWN: BRING THE NOISE

Shouts of ?First down, Indians? or ?Tackled by a tribe of Indians? will now be heard loud and clear from long-time public address announcer John Levingston at Lewistown High School football games.

The high school and grade school booster clubs both chipped in to purchase a $5,000 upgrade to the sound system that was installed in time for the Indians to host the Prairieland Conference boys track and field meet last spring.

?It really adds to our facility,? Lewistown athletics director Greg Bennett said. ?Our old sound system was older than the football field here is. I think they brought it over from the previous football field. We always made fun that our old speakers looked like the ones from the 4077th M*A*S*H during the Korean War.?

And now 22-year head coach Darren Winkler?s pre-game ritual might even be heard at the Journal Star office.

?Winkler plays his heavy metal death music before the games and you couldn?t hear his heavy metal death music,? Bennett said. ?It just sounded like cats fighting because the speakers couldn?t handle it. We?ll continue to upgrade it and add new speakers.?

EUREKA/ROANOKE-BENSON: COLLEGE PREP

The Eureka/Roanoke-Benson co-op might get more of a taste of the ?college life? than they may have wanted this season. Because of renovations to the high school field at Eureka High, E/R-B will play its first three ?home? games at Eureka College on Saturdays.

McCollum Field, home of the Hornets, is getting a face lift. A new eight-lane track is being installed and new bleachers and a new press box are being added. The new additions are scheduled to be in place by E/R-B?s homecoming Sept. 28 against Prairie Central.

Tack on a game at Illinois State?s Hancock Stadium against Normal U-High in Week 5 and the Hornets will play four of their first five games away from the Friday Night lights.

?It?s kind of a bummer, but not a lot of surprise. We were prepared for this,? E/R-B coach Brian Johnson said. ?I played at Eureka College for a year, so that will be fun.?

Johnson said the new track will now make the football field more centered, whereas the northwest corner of one end zone used to butt up against the track. A new drainage system will also be in place.

RICHWOODS: DARK KNIGHTS

Richwoods this season has changed from its tranditional white helmets with a green stripe and logo to green helmets with a white stripe and logo. As is the case with several teams around the area, the helmet?s base color has a matte finish.

?We?re still green and white with the shield and ?R? on the helmet, so I think it?s still traditional,? Richwoods coach Roland Brown said. ?Now, if we struggle out of the blocks I?ll get some cans of white spray paint and change them back myself.?

ELMWOOD/BRIMFIELD: CHECK THE BOARD

Thanks to the booster club, the Elmwood/Brimfield football team now has a new team-colored scoreboard at Whitney Field.

The black scoreboard in Elmwood, with orange outline and orange LED lights, came with a $13,500 price tag. And it was a welcome addition for Trojans coach Todd Hollis.

?Last year?s playoff game, we couldn?t see how much time was on the clock,? Hollis said of multiple burned out or faded bulbs. ?(The new scoreboard) looks really nice.?

Elmwood A.D. Phil Johnston noted the efforts of many.

?It has been a tremendous cooperation with volunteers in the community and the school district both,? Johnson said of helpers from both Brimfield and Elmwood joining in at the end of July to get the scoreboard ready. ?They?ve been outstanding in working together and using every way possible to make this better for the kids.?

MORTON: MAKEOVER

Morton has a new scoreboard, and refurbished visiting bleachers. The home locker room also got a makeover, with wooden, open-faced cubicles to replaced the old metal lockers.

Source: http://www.pjstar.com/sports/x1101047136/Time-to-open-the-gates-for-high-school-football

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