Windsor High School football field OK'd for Friday's homecoming game

Six games into this season Windsor's football team will finally step onto its home turf Friday night.

After weeks of uncertainty about the safety of their 7-year-old artificial turf field, the field passed final tests Thursday.

Athletic Director Jeff Hardie announced Thursday night that the repaired field is playable for the planned home game against Rancho Cotate – just in time for the annual homecoming festivities.

The Jaguars bring a 4-1 overall record and 1-1 in the North Bay League back to their home stadium against the 3-2, 2-0 Cougars. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m.

In August, school officials deemed the field unsafe to play contact sports on after tests showing the rubber pellets that make up the cushiony infill between the fake grass blades had deteriorated so much the playing surface became too hard.

Football and girls soccer officials had to scramble to find other fields to play on while district leaders worked to get the turf company to fix the problem.

During the past two weeks, crews have been brushing up and collecting the tons of old crumbs and replacing them with a new topping of a similar substance. Thursday's tests were the final check.

Crews from Valley Precision Grading worked quickly to get the field into playing condition, Superintendent Steve Jorgensen said.

The Mondoturf all-weather field was installed in 2009 at the cost of $2 million after Windsor voters approved the Measure B bond financing scheme. It remains under warranty and repair costs will be hammered out later, Jorgensen said.

After tonight, the Jaguars are scheduled to play two more away games, then finish the season with home games against Casa Grande Oct. 28 and Ukiah on Nov. 4.

You can reach Lori A. Carter at 521-5470 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @loriacarter.