May 5, 2015 3 min read

Canon-McMillan might switch its season-opening football game to Mt. Lebanon if repairs to the artificial surface of the football field at Canonsburg Memorial Stadium are not completed in time.

That would leave the Big Macs with two away games to begin the season if the Sept. 4 game against the Blue Devils is moved.

At a meeting Tuesday, the athletic committee discussed options to deal with specific scheduling problems if the estimated $1.2 million project takes longer to complete than expected.

“It’s a possibility,” said athletic director Frank Vulcano of moving the football game. “There have been fliers sent out that said that could be an option. But that can change, too.”

The football field was deemed unsafe to use after representatives from HHHSDR Architects-Engineers made an evaluation in March. Dips and bumps were discovered throughout the field and an effort to flatten them by using a 10-ton roller failed.

The district’s building and grounds committee will present a list of prospective bidders at Thursday night’s school board meeting to replace the synthetic turf and track.

“We talked about the completion of the bid tabulation and resurfacing the field and the track,” said superintendent Michael Daniels. “We’ll be presenting a recommendation to the full board Thursday to award the contracts to a couple vendors. We’ll have that resolution verbiage on the agenda Thursday night. If the board approves it, then we’ll move ahead.”

Daniels said the district was fortunate in finding the bidders because of the tight time frame required to do the work.

“We got lucky because their schedules are already packed through August,” he said. “We’re very fortunate they are available.”

The athletic committee also discussed possible venues to hold football practice if the field repairs are not ready by Aug. 17, the first day of fall sports practice in the WPIAL.

A few alternatives were discussed, including possibly sharing the facility at North Strabane Township Park, which has an artificial turf football field. The field has been used by the boys and girls soccer programs at Canon-McMillan.

The summer football program, a series of non-mandatory workouts, will be shifted to the municipal park.

“It’s hard to get (all the) teams on the field at North Strabane,” Vulcano told the committee. “That’s the time when the fields are needed.”

Other fields in the area include McDowell Lane Sports Complex in North Strabane, which is a grass field that has goal posts and soccer nets, and the grass field just across Canonsburg Memorial Stadium near Chartiers Creek.

Another option discussed was sending the team to a 7-day, 6-night football camp at California University for the first week of practice but concerns were raised about the cost. It was estimated that 100 players would be eligible to attend and the cost was about $200 per person.

Fund-raising efforts from the football boosters could produce a large chunk of the $20,000, but the committee also asked about the effect of a possible pay-for-play charge and a one-time payout from one of the district’s fund to cover a small percentage of that cost.

No decision has been made on any of these options.

The district should have a better idea on the renovation completion date by the first week of July.