With high school football season a little more than two months away, work at Monarch Stadium is picking up as crews from Ag Design Athletic Field Service lay down a new playing surface.
Crews began work last month, removing several inches of the existing surface and top soil on the field, which over the past few football seasons has deteriorated due to the high number of games played each fall. Officials had estimated at least 50 games were being played on the field annually, with John Marshall and Bishop Donahue high schools, Moundsville Middle School and a Little League holding all games at the stadium.
The number of games caused compaction on the field, which does not allow for sod to take root and causes the surface to hold water instead of draining. Additionally, the field at Monarch Stadium had issues with weeds. Professionals who gave the Marshall County Board of Education an estimate on the work earlier this spring said they were unable to determine what type of drainage and irrigation system the field has. Additionally, the track at Monarch Stadium has drainage issues that caused the surface, which was replaced last year, to not adhere to the concrete base.
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Photo by J.W. Johnson Jr.
Crews from Ag Design Athletic Field Service work to put down new sod at Monarch Stadium in Moundsville Tuesday.
District officials expected the new playing surface at Monarch Stadium to be finished today before crews perform the same job at Dragon Stadium in Cameron. Once the work is done in both stadiums, a watering regimen is the only work that needs to be done to ensure the fields are ready for play.
