Home improvement: Fort Cherry getting turf, track at Jim Garry Stadium
By John Sacco
For the Observer-Reporter
newsroom@observer-reporter.com
The Fort Cherry School District has approved a $2,782,250 project that includes making Jim Garry Stadium an artificial turf surface and constructing a track at the site.
The “stadium field and track renovation project” will be constructed by Force Turf Solutions, Inc., Indiana.
Fort Cherry becomes the 10th Washington County district to have an artificial surface at its football stadium. The others include California, Canon-McMillan, Charleroi, Chartiers-Houston, McGuffey, Peters Township, Ringgold, Trinity and Washington. Waynesburg is the lone Greene County district with an artificial surface.
The Rangers are in the throes of outstanding athletic achievement the Fort Cherry football team has won consecutive WPIAL Class A championships, the girl’s track team was WPIAL runnerup last season and the boy’s track team had a PIAA championship relay team.
In addition, Fort Cherry’s girls and boys basketball teams have been highly successful the last handful of seasons.
The project is expected to be completed by Aug. 1.
“A lot of our stakeholders support this,” said Thomas Samosky, Fort Cherry’s superintendent. “Obviously our (school) board does.
“Our district wants our venues to help students in learning and with our extra-curricular activities, where everyone can participate.”
Samosky added that the rehabilitated facility will aid physical education classes and allow the community to take advantage of and give people the opportunity to enjoy the district’s resources.
Fort Cherry has operated a high-quality track program for nearly a quarter of a century – without the benefit of a home track – producing good teams and numerous WPIAL and PIAA medalists.
“Excited is an understatement,” said Ben Maxin, Rangers’ track and field coach. “I’ve kind of heard this through the grapevine for the last year or two that this was likely going to happen.
“I kept my fingers crossed and tried to keep it quiet if I could with the athletes but it’s been a long time coming. We’ve had about 20 years now of the grind and in the gravel and the dust and in the dirt.
“We’ve had to really overcome and it’s been a testament to the kids,” he continued. “For how much success we’ve had and the number of kids we’ve had that have gone on to college careers is amazing. I’m just super excited for the kids.”
Maxin’s wife, Leslie, is a member of the district’s school board.
Tanner Garry, the Rangers’ football coach, said the turf should help with more consistent and productive practice sessions.
“We had a natural grass practice field but unfortunately with weather, rocks and grass that wouldn’t grow, our practice situation has been pretty rough the last few years,” he said.
Not having to play in mud makes Garry feel better.
“Any time the field is covered in mud, I’m not sure if we’re finding out who the better team is when we play in mud. I think there are few schools in the area who have great track programs that don’t have their own track. I hope it gets done in time so we can play there this year. We’re excited about it.”
Tom Scarpone, Fort Cherry athletic director, said the turf and track will greatly enhance Rangers athletics and be a benefit to the community.
“I think that having turf is going to be a game changer for Fort Cherry athletics, and in the community,” he said. “I believe that you know our kids are going to benefit from being able to practice on it and have home meets Our football team is going to be able to benefit from it from weather conditions. I think our community is going to be able to get use from it.”