To view photos of opening night for the Souderton football team in its new stadium, visit the photo gallery at the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
By Alex Frazier
First night.
First night on spanking new turf.
First Friday night football game at the new Souderton High School.
It should have been a night to celebrate in front of a capacity home crowd after losing on the road at Neshaminy last week 35-6.
But it was not to be.
Downingtown East ruined the Indians homecoming, taking advantage of three fumbles and an interception to rout Souderton 29-7.
“It was unacceptable,” said Souderton coach Ed Gallagher.
“I was really pumped up for the new stadium and the new field, the first game,” said senior back Andrew Coyle. “It gave everybody that extra drive out there. And then turnovers killed us throughout the game.”
Except for the steady rain, that was about the only negative of the evening.
The brand new stadium, which as yet has no name, is definitely a step up from the old Indian Field.
“It’s unreal,” said quarterback Connor Brokenshire, who dislocated his thumb in the first quarter. “It’s a whole new experience for everybody. The facilities we have here at the new school are unreal.”
The Spinturf surface was a godsend on a night like this.
“I love this surface,” said Gallagher.
“It doesn’t give,” said Brokenshire. “On the old field you’d be sliding all over the place. You can plant and cut and do what you need to do.”
As Souderton Principal Sam Varrano said, “If this was last year, we wouldn’t be playing. We wouldn’t want to wreck the field for the rest of the season.”
Besides giving the usual score, quarter, time etc., the new scoreboard also features a message board that encourages fans to cheer and support their team.
The new stadium lights make it seem like daylight, unlike the old ones that were Thomas Edison vintage.
A red all-surface, eight-lane track encircles the field, certainly an upgrade from the four-lane (if you were lucky) cinder track around the old field.
Not only will the track team make good use of it, but also the cheerleaders were also thankful for it.
“We actually get to be seen this year,” said cheerleader captain Hallie Orlowski. “Last year at the old high school, we were pushed up against the stadium and nobody could really see us. It feels more professional than a high school event.”
The only negative she could come up with was the rain.
Instead of dressing in a downstairs dungeon, the players now suit up in team rooms adjacent to the field.
At the other end of the field is a spacious concession/restroom facility
Seating at the new stadium is 4,000 up 1,000 from Indian Field. Unfortunately, because of the weather, the stadium didn’t nearly reach capacity as announced attendance was unofficially estimated at 1,713.
Souderton announcer Rick Hess also lavished praise on the press box, which unlike the stands was full on this night.
The press box features heat and a sound system that plays music rather than having to do it over a microphone.
The view is also better, perhaps because the windows are larger and actually clear.
And because of the turf, spotting the ball is made easier.
After Souderton School District Superintendent Dr. Charles D. Amuso flipped the coin to begin the game, things went awry for the Big Red early in the game. The Cougars recovered a fumble and took a 6-0 lead with 10:17 left in the first quarter. The Souderton defense held the Cougars on a drive in the second quarter giving up just a field goal at the 5:59 mark to fall back 10-0.
On the best drive of the night, Andrew Coyle bulled into the endzone in the final two minutes of the first half to keep the Indians in the game at 10-7 heading into the team room.
But the second half was déjà-vu doubled.
Souderton fumbled on its own one-yard line and Downingtown scored again although the Cougars missed an extra point following a penalty that moved the ball back to the 15 with 6:09 left in the third quarter.
And with just 35 seconds left the Cougars intercepted a pass and scored again to make it 23-7.
Souderton wasn’t done self-destructing. One more fumble led to the final Cougars’ TD and a disappointing finale for the first night.
“A decent amount of people turned out for our first home game,” said Gallagher. “I’m disappointed we couldn’t have put on a better performance.”
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