Again can be either an on campus facility, public stadium or third party....anywhere that IHSA football is currently played.
Post the 5 most in need of a fix/renovations here.
Post the 5 most in need of a fix/renovations here.
Q: 5 High School fields/stadiums most in need of a renovation
- Thread starter EdgyTim
- Start date
Couldn't agree more. For a large school that has a decent amount of money, ALL of the athletic facilities at Minooka are lacking.
Like I have previously stated, I have loose ties to Minooka so they are always on my radar. Most years they are not worth going to watch as they have traditionally been down as of late. I have only been to a few Minooka football games and oddly enough they always ended up being away games. This year I decided to go to my first Minooka home game. I heard they were going to actually be decent so I figured why not. Now I have not been to every field in the IHSA but I do feel like I have seen more than the average fan. Minooka's football field is one of the worst I have been to. There is just nothing appealing about it. That being said I do like the kids and the coaches I do know I get along with.
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Exactly! Build a great facility and make it that much better. So much potential in the 'nook, why not embrace it and turn it into a premier program.
Haven't been to enough games to see a trend of marks vs. no marks but I see them here
I'm guessing that was either playoff time or when the field was just basically destroyed....hard to paint over mud I guess...
I'm sorry but until you guys at MC build a stadium of your own, you have no right to comment on ours. Our home stands are quite spacious and there hasn't been a homicide within a mile of them in years.
Settle down, no need for low blows, you don’t have good visitor stands, and it’s very well known. Have you ever tried to watch a well attended game from those stands? It’s very difficult, more then likely you’re watching 70 yards of the game and depending on crowd reaction for the other 30 yards. Say what you want about Gately, but there’s not a bad seat in the house PERIOD. Rice has a nice field, good food, good announcer, great home stands, but their visitor side blows and you won’t find many who disagree.
Peotone. Horrific stadium, and sadly it's been bad since the '70s when I was in elementary school there. Visitors bleachers are a couple sets of five row bleachers (front row on ground) drug over from baseball field. Track is same uneven potholed bad cinders since 70's, and it's hard to determine where the track ends and the gravel surrounding it begins... Leading tackler is the uneven grass field in many games. The home bleachers have been upgraded, but are on the east side of the field. Scoreboard is from the 70's. The school district built a new high school about 10 years ago, but no outside facilities...Several youth leagues in the conference have nicer facilities than PHS - and the Peotone youth league plays on the PHS field...
If Peotone invested some money, it could be a fantastic facility...new track, some paved walkways, new home bleachers & press box on the west side, and maybe regrade & seed the field...but for that much effort they might as well build new at the high school...
If Peotone invested some money, it could be a fantastic facility...new track, some paved walkways, new home bleachers & press box on the west side, and maybe regrade & seed the field...but for that much effort they might as well build new at the high school...
Took the words right out of my mouth, its the worst visitor section I have sat in. Makes Wilmingtons look 1st class
What's wrong with Wilmington's? I'm not getting defensive, just looking for the reasoning. Bleachers are kinda small, but they are in good shape. The track is a crappy old cinder one, but there is a new track at the new school so there would be no point in fixing that up.
Aside from CC or a playoff team that travels well the visitor section is usually pretty barren.
The atmosphere at Wilmo is the best I have ever seen.
Hanson Stadium, probably the only carpet turf left in the world and its tearing apart at all the seams
Also, Lane Stadium in CPS needs it as well. The turf is coming apart and the way the stadium guys "fix" things that break is simply putting a plastic bag on top of it, making a BROKEN sign and taping the crap out of it. This goes for toilets, sinks, urinals, water spouts, and would most likely include the scoreboard if they could find a plastic bag big enough.
The fix at Hanson is some green paint on the blacktop under the carpet
Wilmington is a great atmosphere but the but the field is in rough shape every year we go there. I know the draw of the woods is cool but why not build a new stadium next at the new high school. Parking for visitors is not good. Again, I love when CC and Wilmington play but I'm not a fan. No offense
No offense taken, just trying to see your reasoning.
I'll admit, the field is not the best, and since Coal City and Wilmington usually play at the end of the season that doesn't help it at all.
Where do the visitors park? The grass field? If so that is kind of bogus. I would just go park in the main lot if that was the case.
Speaking of visitors....I remember one time back in the day CC had a bunch of yellow hammers hung throughout town when we came to play.....That was funny. Even funnier when we still beat them
. Actually really looking forward to the game between us this year and honestly QB1 at CC makes me nervous. Also gonna make the long haul to see you guys and Morris. Where is that at?
Prairie Ridge's has the newest field in D155 yet has the worse visitors stands. I believe they are subject to lawsuits each year from people falling just to sit in these shit stands.
what's laughable, D155 spent million(S) of dollars on the CLS stand fiasco when no one really cares about gator football.
Crazy-
what's laughable, D155 spent million(S) of dollars on the CLS stand fiasco when no one really cares about gator football.
Crazy-
Wilmington, bar none, has the best atmosphere anywhere. However, for a Coaler to take a shot at the stadium is not surprising. Becker Field at Reents Stadium is an awesome home stadium. It's not a good visitors stadium, however, and not just because the visitors usually get thrashed....
I first went to a game at Wilmo when Manteno & Peotone co-oped in the early 90's. The visitor's side then wasn't much better then than Peotone's is now. Wilmington, however, basically abandoned the track (long before they built the new track) and focused on the football field throughout the Reents era...It clearly aids the atmosphere & charm of the facility. But really the only visitor's side improvements was the construction of the bleachers...Visitors still have to trudge around the cinder track - under and thru the woods - to get to visitors bleachers, which is not ideal. They have to trudge back around to get to the concessions...The fireworks go off behind them, so they can't see them...
I-8 visitors sides only get tested by Wilmo, Manteno, Herscher, & CC. M, H, & CC all have parking directly behind the visitors bleachers. Maybe not as much character, but more convenient..
No offense taken, just trying to see your reasoning.
I'll admit, the field is not the best, and since Coal City and Wilmington usually play at the end of the season that doesn't help it at all.
Where do the visitors park? The grass field? If so that is kind of bogus. I would just go park in the main lot if that was the case.
Speaking of visitors....I remember one time back in the day CC had a bunch of yellow hammers hung throughout town when we came to play.....That was funny. Even funnier when we still beat them
Actually really looking forward to the game between us this year and honestly QB1 at CC makes me nervous. Also gonna make the long haul to see you guys and Morris. Where is that at?
Park in the main lot but its a bit of a walk for older fans. Yeah I remember that lol. Great rivalry that you guys have had the upper hand in for quite a while now.
We play Morris at home, should be a huge crowd since its the first Varsity contest between both teams. We will be pretty decent this year, had a lot of Juniors and sophs in the lineup last year
Weeksa 1 and 2 will tell the tale for us. Wilmo will be a dog fight again
That's crazy that you two never played before....and I think Morris and WIlmo in weeks 1+2 is awful scheduling. That could beat the kids down both physically and mentally for the rest of the season. As CC faces some of those tougher I8 opponents (Herscher, Manteno mostly) they could end up taking losses. Could be a trying year for the Coalers.
Plus, nothing is better then those week 9 Wilmo/CC games when both teams are undefeated or carrying strong momentum into the postseason
How about the long jump track starting literally on the back line of end zone!?! I saw a PR and Central kid come down hard on that for a jump ball in the back corner of the end zone. Who ever designed that either has never watched a football game or doesn't have a ton of common sense
I think we will be ok. Morris, Wilmo and Streator will be the 3 games that will test us
Hmmmmm Streator? Have never seen them play. I usually considered that a blowout week so I found other plans on those Fridays.
The crappy cinder oval was the track at some point. My oldest was in middle school when the new track was built, and they ran no ms meets and only 1 hs meet that year at home. The coaches told us there had not been a home track meet since the 80's...I guess that paving over the area in front of the home stands pretty much ended track meets...
Talking about paving over tracks, that's how Manteno's stadium got started. Manteno had a cinder track that ran e-w between the current middle school (originally 1954 hs) and the now demolished elementary (originally 1928 hs). Despite winning several junior high state track trophies in the 80's, the district paved over the west end of the track in the late 80's. The girls then won a hs state track trophy in '89. Without a track, the program eroded for several years, and made a compelling argument to build the all-weather track at the high school in '95 which is now the stadium...
I was in HS in the 90’s and it was not paved over by either set of stands. We still never had track meets. I was unaware of any home meets in the 80’s, but I was just always told that we just don’t host them. Do they now? Do they have Cross country yet?
Guerin. They've got a multi-purpose patch of grass that contains the baseball field, softball field, and football/soccer field. All three field interesect. If you'e playing CF on the baseball diamond there is a very good chance you're standing next to the CF on the softball team.
Rice's visitor stands are terrible. No argument there but Sisters of Mercy will not budge on letting Rice expand on to their property. Only remedy is to place temporary stands behind each end zone. Rice's AD barely moves a finger at work so that's not happening.
Wildcats host Manteno & Peotone for track tonight at the high school track/ soccer stadium. And if they ran at Reents Stadium, it would still be better than running at Peotone...Track meets are a pain, which is why Wilmo only hosts a couple every year (Peotone is always one....lol).
Yes, I agree. The visitors stands at Rice are a joke. And we do have our own stadium.
At least they are hosting them now. I know a lot of runner type people who were very upset that we never host meets. I'm curious as to what other fall sports are offered at the other I-8 schools. This thread got me thinking......maybe I will start a thread about it
