LJ field sports: Home games

The new LJHS track surface, still wet from a fresh

coat of paint Thurs., Aug. 18. (Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

It is hard to back it up with cold, hard facts right now, with only the football schedule available, but La Jolla High field sports should enjoy an amazing string of home games this school year with the football field newly resurfaced and the new layer on the track almost ready to go.

As reported before, Matt Morrison's football team begins a string of six straight home games on Fri., Sept. 2, broken up only by a bye week in week six. That's an unprecedented streak of contests at Edwards Field in this reporter's 13 years covering LJHS sports.

Occurring as the school year moves into the winter sports season starting in December, Kristin "Jonesy" Jones' girls soccer team will enjoy its first home games since the 2013-2014 season. Jonesy said last winter, "This makes two years we've travelled to all our games. Last season (2014-2015) I scheduled all our games away because I was told construction on the field was going to start then."

Instead, with La Jolla High officials submitting a second proposal for approval which added a new press box, construction that was initially expected to start about November 2014 was pushed back to the day after graduation in June 2015. That enabled seniors to walk in their graduation ceremony on their school campus.

Marco Gonzales' CIF champion boys soccer team and the girls and boys lacrosse teams will also witness a dramatic shift in their game sites this coming school year as their new home field opens up.

In this view from the southeast corner, the new

concession stand on the home side is visible in the

lower right, with Spanish tile roof. The new track

surface, the bright red south end zone, and buildings

on the western sideline are visible. Edwards Stadium

has new, permanent visitors bleachers (top right)

for the first time.

Coach Lisa Griffiths has also previously said that her field hockey team will play some games on the new Edwards Stadium surface, while playing the majority of its home games on the field at Muirlands Middle School.

A team that hasn't experienced any displacement of games due to the sports complex renovation is Anthony Sarain's softball team, which plays in the spring. However, the softball team did have to share some of its space on its new surface last season with other sports teams practicing on the ample field next to the gymnasiums.

Right now entrance to the gyms is only possible through the softball field side doors, with renovation of the gym building still not completed with a week remaining before the start of classes Mon., Aug. 29.

John McColl, assistant football coach in charge of operations, said at the Vikings' scrimmage at Bishop's Fri., Aug. 19, that the football team's first practice on the new football field has been pushed back a week to Aug. 29. The football field proper appears ready, but workers were still applying coats of paint to the newly-laid track surface by squeegee Fri., Aug. 19.

There are concession stands on both home and visitors sides. Trainer Matt Bridges said at Friday's football scrimmage that he hadn't been told yet where his training room will be. The new buildings along the western sideline of the football field still had construction workers setting brick on at least two of the structures' roofs Thurs., Aug. 18. Those buildings, housing locker rooms, coaches offices, and a new weight room, are in need of further construction before they can be inhabited and used by coaches and student athletes.