New Year, New Fields For Area High Schools

Indianapolis, IN – High school football squads have an informal unveiling today and Saturday with scrimmages across the state, but more than the teams are new at several Indianapolis-area schools. Fans at Avon, Heritage Christian and Noblesville will get their first looks at artificial surfaces that have been installed at their respective playing facilities since the end of last season. Ben Davis and Roncalli also put in new surfaces, but fans of those schools will have to wait for game action to see competition on the new fields — the Giants next Friday against Perry Meridian and the Rebels on Sept. 1 against Bishop Chatard. Nine area schools now have artificial playing fields, with Franklin and Pike scheduled to join that group next year. “We like the new field a lot,” said Avon coach Dave Shelbourne, whose school spent about $650,000 to install the A-Turfâ„¢ surface. “It allows us to practice on our game field, and that puts our kids in a familiar situation on game days. It’s a comfortable surface, easy on the legs, there’s no worry about ruts and you don’t have to worry about rain. But as much as anything, it’s a message to our kids that we’re running a first-class program.”