Homes, sweet homes

The sites will be familiar, but everything else has changed.

Welcome to the 2009 football season, Edison, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach and Marina high schools. You all have brand spanking new stadiums to call home.

Cap Sheue Field on the campus of Huntington Beach High — where the Chargers, Barons and Oilers call home — has been renovated. So has Boswell Field on the campus of Westminster High, where the Vikings play their home games.

The Oilers first practiced at new Sheue Field last week, and gave it high grades.

“It’s a lot better,” said Oilers senior quarterback Sean Guite of the artificial field turf, not to mention new stands, a new sound system, Musco-style lighting, a new scoreboard and the all-weather track surrounding the field. “It’s just genuinely nice.”

There are also new snack bar, restroom, press box and locker room facilities. Boswell Field received similar upgrades, and both stadiums were closed last year during the renovations, meaning teams had to scramble to play some home games at other sites. But now all of that is a thing of the past.

Sheue Field will hold its grand opening ceremony Sept. 11, prior to the Oilers’ season opener against JSerra. Boswell Field will hold a ceremony Oct. 2.

Edison already practices on field turf at its soccer stadium, Coach Dave White noted, and the surface is also at the Chargers’ other home stadium, Orange Coast College. Still, this year the Chargers have four of their five home games at Sheue Field, beginning Sept. 4 against Artesia. The only home game at OCC is the annual Battle for the Bell, against rival Fountain Valley on Nov. 6.

“We’ve always played half our games at Orange Coast and half at Huntington, and we like playing at both places,” White said. “I think it’ll be kind of fun playing [at Sheue Field] this year. Anything new is always fun. It’s field turf, and we practice on field turf every day.”

Marina Coach Dan Petrone had his team practice at Boswell Field last Friday, and the Vikings will do it again this Friday evening for an intrasquad scrimmage.

“It’s obviously a lot more convenient,” said Petrone, whose alma mater, Estancia High, added field turf last year with the opening of Jim Scott Stadium. “You always feel more comfortable in your own stadium. Our administration, our athletic director, obviously adjusted things last year and as a team we did a great job adjusting to having to travel a lot more last year. This year, we have seven home games, and we’re excited about that.”

Huntington Beach Union High School District Supt. Van Riley said the stadiums cap a five-year program to update facilities districtwide, after voters passed the $228-million Measure C bond in 2004. That money went to classroom improvements, but the district was able to raise additional funds to pay for other facilities. He estimated the total cost of each of the stadiums at $10 million each.

“Our two stadiums are our last major projects,” Riley said. “They hadn’t been renovated in decades, and they needed it. It’s not just a medium-grade renovation. They’re top quality ... it’s something our community should be very proud of.”

Field turf does have its minor drawbacks. The artificial surface tends to get extremely hot during warm days, but Huntington Beach Coach Eric Lo said he doesn’t see that as too much of a problem.

“It’s not a big issue for us,” he said. “We constantly have a nice ocean breeze.”

Fountain Valley Coach John Shipp’s team is the first to play a regular-season game at the renovated Sheue Field when the Barons face Foothill on Sept. 3.

He said his team also looks forward to playing in its new digs.

“The fields over there at Huntington Beach would normally last maybe through mid-season, and then it would just always be torn up,” Shipp said. “The great thing about having field turf is you don’t have to worry about that. Everything is brand new there.”

He then brought up another concern regarding field turf — injuries.

“I’ve had two kids break collarbones playing on field turf, and this is within the past year,” Shipp said. “Am I a little worried? Yeah, but you know what? We’ve also been playing on it over at Orange Coast for a while and nothing’s happened. [The new stadiums are] just one of those things that are great for the district and great for the schools.

“And for the kids,” he added. “They get to experience something like that, and it’s a greater event for them.”