Turf work in Terrebonne: Construction begins on local fields

Ellender Memorial football coach David McCormick couldn’t wait to get out of school on Monday afternoon.

“It’s like an early Christmas,” he said with a laugh.

When the final bell rang, McCormick got in his truck and anxiously drove a couple miles south to South Terrebonne High School.

There, McCormick sat and watched with pride as the first shovels of dirt were being dug on a construction project that will change the history of high school athletics in Terrebonne Parish.

Work began on Monday to begin the process of laying field turf on the parish’s two public high school football fields — a multi-million dollar project that started Monday and is expected to run through mid-July after the school board dedicated the money last fall to give relief to the overused natural grass fields that often get bogged down by summer rains.

If weather cooperates, the fields will be completed well before the start of the 2019 football season. That timeline means that local coaches have finally gotten their wish — no more sloppy, muddy games on slick and unsafe surfaces.

“It’s just great for the kids — all the kids,” McCormick said. “People like to pigeonhole this to football, but this is great for soccer, track, baseball and what about the band, too? This is great for all our kids. The youth leagues will get to use it, which means they will get to play more. You know, it’s just a wonderful day. It’s finally here. I want to just sit out there and watch them work. You’ll never be able to get the smile off my face.”

McCormick’s words mirror those spoken by other coaches in the area.

Terrebonne football coach Gary Hill said he thinks the project is long overdue, though he added that he’s grateful for the school board’s dedication in finding the dollars to get it done.

Terrebonne’s Tom B. Smith Stadium has been waterlogged, sodded and re-sodded several times throughout the past several seasons when early-season games are played in rainy, damp conditions.

Hill said the price of the turf is steep — close to $2 million — but the cost of continual maintenance and damage control adds up to that and more over the life of the turf.

“It pays for itself,” Hill said.

Hill’s Tigers were hit harder than anyone by unplayable field conditions in the past year.

Terrebonne had to move two home playing dates away from Tom B. Smith Stadium to neighboring Thibodaux High School — including a first-round playoff game.

The community fervor surrounding those schedule adjustments helped provide the school board with the ammunition it needed to expedite a vote and pass the turf field project into its budget.

McCormick said in the past few years, he’s had to either move, postpone or outright cancel home varsity, JV or freshman games, which hurts the amount of reps his teams get, but also factors into the bottom line.

“If we lose a gate, that’s thousands of dollars that we can’t get back,” McCormick said. “It’s stressful. It really hurts us and the ones who suffer are those kids.”

Representatives at both H.L. Bourgeois and Ellender have been vocal in discussion surrounding this project — each expressing a pie in the sky hope of someday having a stadium of their own, which they believe, would eliminate the overuse of local grass.

Those plans, officials concede, is a long-shot at best — a pipe dream that may never happen, but is fun to dream about. H.L. Bourgeois Athletic Director Andrew Caillouet said he believes this project will help the Braves’ football team immensely in coming seasons.

“It might not be the picture-perfect ideal situation for us at H.L. Bourgeois, because we’d love our own home,” Caillouet said. “But this is a great thing, as well. It was getting to a point where teams weren’t wanting to play in Tom B. Smith Stadium anymore. Now, that problem is solved and I think it will be great for both our coaches and our kids.”

DESIGN OF THE FIELDS

Since the project was started, citizens in the community have asked: what will the turf fields in Terrebonne look like?

In Lafourche, the answer was simple. With three public high schools all enjoying their own home field, the schools got a massive mid-field logo and both end zones dedicated to their school name and mascot.

In Terrebonne, it’s not that simple. There are two public high school stadiums, but they are both shared by two teams. Tom B. Smith hosts Terrebonne and H.L. Bourgeois and South Terrebonne’s field is home to the Gators and Ellender.

When designing the fields, the school board opted to steer clear from any midfield logos or decals at all. Instead, each end zone will carry the school name of one of the two hosting schools within the stadium.

DOES IT ACTUALLY HELP? MANY SAY YES!

So, does having turf actually help a football team?

The folks in Lafourche Parish sure think so.

They got their carpets laid down last summer and all three public high school coaches have had nothing but good things to say about the process and end result.

Thibodaux coach Chris Dugas said having turf helped his team win games last season over natural grass foes — literally.

He said in an early-season game against Vandebilt, his Tigers peaked and played their best football in the fourth quarter, while the Terriers had cramps and tailed off.

The difference? It was a brutally wet summer last year. On the rare day that it didn’t rain, Thibodaux was able to practice on their grass field, while the Terriers were in the gym for almost two-weeks straight without any contact practices at all.

“That was the difference in the game — I believe,” Dugas said. “We were in better shape.”

“Their new field blessed them,” former Vandebilt coach Jeremy Atwell agreed after the game. “They were the stronger team. They were able to do more work going in and it showed.” •

Field Work

Follow Casey on Twitter for more. 

https://twitter.com/casey_gisclair