Aug 1, 2017 5 min read

Bentworth School District and Washington & Jefferson College recently put the finishing touches on a contract, approved Monday night by the district’s school board, that will allow the Bearcats to play two football games this fall at Cameron Stadium in Washington.

Bentworth, which has played home football games at its stadium in Ellsworth since the jointure of Ellsworth and Bentworth schools in the 1960s, will host West Greene in its season opener Aug. 25 and Century Conference foe Beth-Center Sept. 22 at Cameron Stadium. Starting time for both games is 7 p.m.

“Our field has some limitations,” said George Lammay, Bentworth’s assistant superintendent who worked on the deal with Scott McGuinness, W&J’s athletic director. “Parking is one of the key limitations.

“My initiative was to take some pressure off our field. We are joining with one of the finest liberal arts institutions in the country. The facility is first-rate and it also gives our athletes and students great exposure to W&J. We are grateful to the college for this.”

Lammay is the public address announcer for W&J home football games.

Bentworth plays varsity football, junior varsity football, middle school football, and boys and girls varsity soccer on the field at Ellsworth. The community’s youth football league also uses the field.

The Bearcats will play three home games at the field, and will celebrate their Homecoming and Senior Night festivities in Ellsworth.

In addition to the two games being played at Cameron Stadium, it was also announced that the Bentworth Community Athletic Stadium Initiative (BCASI) was formed to serve as the fundraising arm to have a new stadium, with a track, built on grounds near Bentworth High School.

“Last year, our stadium took a tough beating because of weather,” Lammay said. “The district can’t support (an effort for a new stadium) with tax money. It’s not an option. We’re undergoing a $10 million renovation of the high school.

“To build a new stadium it will have to come through various forms of fundraising. Architects have given us drawings. It would be a tremendous facility.”

McGuinness said W&J is excited about hosting Friday night football and added that the college is eager to make their facilities available.

“George approached us and asked about the possibility of playing a few games here,” McGuinness said. “Luckily, things worked out where the stadium was available. Our staffs were receptive and it is exciting for us. It’s a great facility and location to open the high school football season.”

In addition to football, W&J’s field hockey team competes at Cameron Stadium.

“We are willing to allow high schools to use our facilities as long as we can work out the details,” McGuinness said. “I encourage it. We want to help out. Once the circumstances are worked out, it is our pleasure and our duty, I think to be of as much help as we can be.”

McGuinness pointed to Beaver Falls High School’s longtime use of Geneva College’s Reeves Stadium and Central Catholic’s use of Carnegie Mellon University’s football stadium.

The last high school game hosted by W&J at Cameron Stadium was Nov. 2, 2012, when Washington defeated Shady Side Academy, 47-12, in a WPIAL Class AA first-round playoff game.

Prior to the building of Hiller Field in the early 1990s, Trinity High School used Cameron Stadium, then-named College Field, as its home stadium.

Bentworth will provide its own game managements team, ticket takers, public address announcer and other personnel, including its own security. McGuinness or a staff member will represent the college at the games. W&J’s baseball team operates the concession stand at Cameron Stadium and will do so during Bentworth games.

McGuinness is confident Cameron Stadium will be ready for Bentworth’s opening game despite the field being flooded Friday by the torrential rain that fell on the Washington area.

“We have a lot of problems there right now,” McGuinness said. “It’s the second time in a month we have had a flooding issue. This one Friday was the worst of the two and rivaled Hurricane Ivan’s damage there in 2004.

“We have a lot of debris and mud on the track and the field. We’ve been working since Saturday morning to clean it up. “

W&J’s football camp is schedule to start Aug. 11. The Presidents also are in the early process of replacing the current (Matrix) turf, which was installed in 2009 by Hellas Construction, Austin, Tex.

“This is going to expedite things quite a bit,” McGuinness said. “You hope to get about a decade’s worth of action on the turf and then look to replace. We just have to replace it a year earlier than planned.”

He added that there is some damage in the locker rooms and other parts of the stadium.

“I think Friday nights in the fall in Western Pennsylvania is special,” McGuinness said. “We’re happy to be part of it.”