HS Officials Stumped by Athletic Field Flooding

Southmoreland School District officials are trying to figure out why water is pouring onto Russ Grimm Field, causing sports officials to scramble for new locations for home games.

"We're really going week to week," athletic director Charlie Swink said.

The turf covering the Scotties' home field, installed in 2006, was ripped away from the fence on one side after an Aug. 23 storm drenched the Scottdale area.

The field's condition forced the relocation of some events, including Friday's football game against Jeannette.

A second storm on Wednesday dumped more rain on the field.

"It got flooded again," Superintendent John Molnar said on Friday. "We're not doing anything until we determine where the source of the water is. That field's been down there a long time, and it's never done this before. Now, it's done this twice in five days."

Molnar said district officials plan to meet with East Huntingdon Township supervisors in hopes of determining how the water is pouring onto the field and how to stop it.

Then officials can get the turf repaired.

"We want to get it remediated before we spend a lot of money on repairing or replacing it," Molnar said. "We have a bid booklet ready to go for repair, but we have to determine where the water is coming from. What new variable is there that wasn't there before?

"Something is different. We need to find out what that something is," he said.

Swink said he is talking with schools on the soccer teams' schedules about switching locations.

Other options are using the soccer field at Southmoreland Elementary School or a field behind the high school. Neither field has lights, so some game times would need to be adjusted.

A girls non-section soccer game with Bentworth will be played at noon Sept. 7 at Southmoreland Elementary. A boys game on Tuesday will be moved to the field behind the high school and will start at 4 p.m.

Paul Paterra is an editor for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at [email protected]