Sports

WHHS kicks off artificial turf era Friday night

By Bill Moss, Published: August 15, 2017

Prep football in Henderson County kicks off a new era when three high schools debut their artificial turf fields over the next three weeks in  intra-country rivalry games.
The county’s compass direction schools all have new artificial fields this year for the first time but Hendersonville High School gets in on the inaugural festivities as the visitor in the first game.
West Henderson High School opens the artificial turf era this Friday night against Hendersonville. North Henderson High School christens its new field on Aug. 25, when East Henderson High School visits, followed by East Henderson High School, which hosts West on Sept. 1.
County commissioners have committed to replacing the grass at Hendersonville High School during the construction of the new HHS.
Each school is celebrating the new fields with a ribbon cutting and dinner. Invited were county commissioners, School Board members, administrators, principals, coaches and media representatives.
Commissioners agreed to finance the construction last spring if a contractor could fast-track the work to have all three ready for football season. Medallion won the contract for $2.45 million. Commissioners appropriated $2.75 million but cost overruns boosted the overall cost to $2.945 million. The School Board voted Monday night to cover the shortfall of $195,220.
The total cost also included engineering fees, new track surfaces and striping and custom field designs.