Page 12/The Sun and News, Saturday, August 5, 2023Rug at The Ralph nearly ready for 2023 football season
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
Over the past two sea-
sons the Caledonia varsity
football team has played in
eight Michigan High School
Athletic Association play-
off games.
Only one of the eight, a
28-14 victory over Byron
Center to open the 2022
Division 2 state postseason,
was played on the grass
inside Ralph E. Myers
Stadium in Caledonia
despite the Fighting Scots
being the top seed in five of
their six district and region-
al match-ups.
With the installation of
AstroTurf synthetic turf
inside Ralph E. Myers
Stadium in Caledonia,
which is nearing comple-tion, the Fighting Scots are
poised to bring the playoffs
home to ‘The Ralph’ this
year as field quality con-
cerns will be eliminated.
The Caledonia varsity
football team will open its
season on the turf inside
Michigan Stadium, taking
on Romeo Friday, Aug. 25.
With that date and a match-
up against NorthFarmington, Sept. 1, the
two non-conference con-
tests on the varsity Fighting
Scots’ schedule every
Caledonia varsity football
game this regular season
will be played on an artifi-
cial surface.
West Ottawa finished
construction of West
Ottawa Stadium for the
2022 varsity football sea-son which left Caledonia as
the final OK Red
Conference school district
without artificial turf on its
high school football field.
Sacks of rubber infill
await to be installed once
the turf preparations are
complete.
High school sports prac-
tices across the state of
Michigan can begin
Monday.
The artificial turf inside
Ralph E. Myers Stadium is
being paid for as part of the
$88 million bond passed in
May 2020 for infrastructure
and other improvements in
the Caledonia Community
Schools. Installing synthetic
turf to the field was included
in plans for 2020 Bond
funds when those plans were
reworked in 2022 by theCaledonia Community
Schools Board of Education.
The change was made as a
result of increased construc-
tion costs requiring a new
bond to be able to fulfill cost
requirements of building a
new Dutton Elementary
building.
More monies from a $
million bond approved by
voters in May will go
towards other updates to the
stadium including improve-
ments to seating and the
press box, renovated team
rooms, concessions and
restrooms, and an updated
track. The 2023 bond will
also fund the new elementa-
ry school, facility improve-
ments throughout the dis-
trict, and added baseball
and soccer fields at the
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New AstroTurf covers the field inside Caledonia’s Ralph E. Myers Stadium Friday morning, as workers add the purple, gold and white embellishments. The first
home varsity football game on the schedule for the Fighting Scots during the 2023 season is Friday, Sept. 1, against North Farmington. (Photo by Brett Bremer)
A Fighting Scot logo adorns the AstroTurf at the
50-yard-line between the hash marks inside Ralph E.
Myers Stadium in Caledonia Friday as work continues
in preparation for the 2023 high school football sea-
son. High school football practice begins Monday
across the state of Michigan. (Photo by Brett Bremer)