Bartow football stadium upgrades continue this summer

Progress is continuing at the three Bartow County high school football stadiums this summer as each facility continues to receive upgrades. Recently, the Bartow County Board of Education approved the conversion of the stadium playing surfaces at Adairsville, Cass, and Woodland from Bermuda turf grass to synthetic turf surfaces. Upgraded track surfaces were also slated for Adairsville and Cass. The BCBOE then included upgrades at each of the three schools to include updated digital scoreboards. Bartow Sports Zone reached out to representatives at all three schools Saturday for an update on the upgrades. “The projected completion date for the playing surfaces and tracks remains August 1,” said Bartow County system athletic director Michael Nelson. “Crews are working daily and we are confident that the playing surface portion of the project will be completed on time.” The Adairsville High School playing surface was fully installed in late May (as seen in the included photo). The Adairsville field was ready for the graduation ceremony in the stadium. Work on the other two schools' playing surfaces is still underway. Construction also continues on the track surfaces at both Adairsville and Cass. Crews were in action Friday at Doug Cochran Stadium on the Cass campus. Grading on the base product for the sports turf installation was continuing.

Meanwhile at Woodland High School, crews have been recently absent.

“I’m fully optimistic about the installation,” said Woodland head coach Tony Plott. “We were given an August 1 completion date, but I was hoping to be able to practice on it in July. Hopefully they will be able to stay ahead of schedule, but they have not been out here for almost two weeks.” “The players, coaches, and boosters are really excited,” noted Cass head coach Bobby Hughes. ‘We are very appreciative of the upgrades and can’t wait to get on it. It is something new for our kids and they are pumped. I’m excited for them and it will allow us to practice even when there has been a lot of rain. It will save wear and tear on our practice fields and gives us options for practices depending on the surface we will play on during any given week.”

As for the scoreboard updates, Nelson said those upgrades will be on going. “The digital boards will be capable of doing video replays with graphics. They will also be able to project advertising for our athletic programs’ sponsors and school promotions. The scoreboards are also connected to on the field play clocks which will be located at each end.” Nelson added that the August 1 completion date does not apply to the scoreboard upgrades. “We know the video boards will not be ready by August 1. Those will take a little longer,” Nelson continued. “The upgrades on the boards will be ongoing.” Adairsville and Woodland open their 2019 regular season schedules August 23, but Woodland is the only Bartow school opening at home. The Wildcats host Southeast Whitfield. Adairsville opens the regular season at Chattooga on August 23 while Cass starts its 2019 regular season campaign at Adairsville August 30.