By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
THREE RIVERS — Armstrong Field at Three Rivers High School will look pretty different when the first football game of the season rolls around on Aug. 29.
Fans will be greeted with a new-look Armstrong Field beginning this fall, with a brand-new turf field, a brand-new track, a brand-new scoreboard, and a renovated fieldhouse.
“We’re excited,” Three Rivers High School Athletic Director Matt Stofer said. “It’s been a neat process to be a part of, and obviously now that we’re a couple of weeks away from the first game, I think the kids are excited, and I think the community’s excited too.”
The project to overhaul the field is part of a bond project passed by local voters in 2019, which also included the renovations and additions at the middle school, a new bus garage, and more.
Work began in February on the overhaul, which included tearing up both the grass field and the old track and installing a new FieldTurf field and a new synthetic track. It is expected to wrap up and be completed just before the Wildcats’ football team plays against Charlotte in the season opener on Thursday, Aug. 29.
Changing from a grass field to a turf field was a big move for the district, Stofer said, one that came after going on trips to different high schools, including St. Joseph and Chelsea, that have had success with turf fields that could withstand heavy usage for events and Michigan weather.
“I think when you go around and look at everything, turf’s become so scientific, so there’s so many different things you look at. Ours was more of, which one could survive the most usage, because it’s not just going to be five football games on there, so it’s going to be busy,” Stofer said. “The one that caught our eye was St. Joe, and in talking with the people over there, St. Joe’s one of those stadiums where there’s soccer, football, lacrosse, band, a lot of action on their field, and it’s held up really good for them.”
The change was also a necessity, Stofer said, because of what weather could do to the grass field.
“Last year, I think it was around Week 6 of the football season, we had to put out a district-wide email to band and everybody else, all the sports, that, okay, the rest of the year is strictly competition only, because of the weather we couldn’t go down there and practice. Our field was getting beat up, there was so much rain,” Stofer said. “So, for the last three weeks, unless it was a competition, we didn’t let anyone on the stadium field. Now, we don’t have to worry about that, because with turf it can rain and you don’t have to worry about it.”
Stofer noted that there is drainage “completely around the track and the turf.”
Some concerns about potential increases in injuries with turf fields have been presented by those against the turf field concept, but Stofer said he believes there aren’t many differences between injuries on grass versus turf.
“Any time you talk about turf, injuries get brought up. There’s injuries on grass, there’s injuries on turf, there’s injuries everywhere. I don’t think you’ll ever take injuries out of sports,” Stofer said. “This is not new to Michigan; Vicksburg, Plainwell, Otsego have been playing on turf for over 20 years and none of those schools have changed back. It’s not like we’re going out there and doing something on our own. It’s part of it, but it’s not. They do the best they can to make things safe no matter where you’re at. When we play on grass, there’s no guarantees grass is safe, because it’s hard to keep fields even and rolled during the season. Again, we just play and we know injuries are a part of sport and they’re going to happen. I don’t expect it to be any different from grass to turf, though.”
One of the biggest new aspects to the field is the addition of a new videoboard scoreboard on the south side of the stadium. Stofer said the new scoreboard, which was funded by an undisclosed donor, will solve a couple of issues with the gameday experience, particularly for those at the north end of the stadium.
“When we started this process, one of the complaints was that if you worked in concessions or if you were down by concessions, you never knew what the score or the time was or anything like that, because the clock was always at that end of the stadium,” Stofer said, adding that there might be some growing pains with the new video capabilities the scoreboard will give them.
“We spent a lot of time with Lakeshore’s video crew the last couple of weeks. We were at Holland West Ottawa this summer for training. It’ll get better as we go. I think year one, you’re like, okay, let’s make sure it works and we get the games going. As we go along, it’ll get better. Eventually, we’ll have video where you might be able to do more live shots at the game. But, at the start, it’s making sure we can get it out there.”
Stofer also praised the renovation of the 40-year-old fieldhouse on the south side of the stadium, which he said “completely gutted” the place and made it new.
“That’s been out there since the mid-80s, and that building, when they went in and took a look at how we taped and kept it together for almost 40 years, they had to do a lot of work,” Stofer said. “The biggest thing we wanted to do is make it more friendly for the teams to be there. Now, instead of storage, there’s a team meeting room out there where they can watch their games. Obviously, the home locker room got spruced up, and then the rest of the facility got renovated.”
One other big change to the gameday experience with the new renovations is a new process for entry into the stadium. The old gate at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Jefferson Street will not be used for entry this season, and while you can still park at the field, there will be new ticket gates at the stadium, which means people will need to park first and then pay to get in.
“There’s new fencing around the stadium that, you can still park in the stadium, but you have to go out and go through the gates. There’s two gates, one on the visitors side and one on the home side, both at the concession end. Those will be the entrances into the stadium on game nights,” Stofer said. “You can still pull in and park at Armstrong Field, but we won’t be taking your money at the gates you originally came through; you can drive in, but you have to go to the ticket entrance.”
With the upgrades to the stadium, Stofer said he hopes Three Rivers will be able to host more events in the future, with his pipe dream being a state semifinal football game, which he has applied for but isn’t sure he’ll receive.
“We’ve put in for things from state semifinal football games. Doesn’t mean you’re going to get it, but when you see the stadium layout and the scoreboard, there’s buzz out there – Three Rivers did nice on their renovation,” Stofer said. “Then you start thinking about it like, a movie night for elementary schools, and kids can come sit with their parents on the turf and watch a movie. There’s so many possibilities of what you can do out there. Next spring, we host the conference track finals. That videoboard with track, that’s a whole other thing, so we’re excited about that.”
Stofer also mentioned that with the renovations, youth football will be able to use the field on Saturdays instead of using Armstrong Park on the north end of the city.
Overall, Stofer said he is looking forward to having the public see the new field and amenities at the stadium come the first game of the football season.
“I think anytime you have something new, and the good thing is we’re excited because the weight room turned out well, and we’ve hit this pretty much on the mark. Once we have that game night atmosphere, I think you’ll see a lot of excitement,” Stofer said.
“We’re excited for the opener with the Orioles. The 29th can’t come soon enough.”
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
