There’s a buzz around New Lexington.
The community around the
Perry County seat long has loved its football, and it has one of the
best venues around to take in a game in Jim Rockwell Stadium.
It
sits over a hill in the middle of town in a setting that would perfectly
suit a pit full of gladiators, with hills around the playing field
providing an elevated view of play on the field.
Now it’s going to be even better.
Rockwell
Stadium, named after the Panthers’ winningest coach, received a major
facelift during a renovation project that has been ongoing since the end
of last season.
Several areas of the facility received
improvements, including new home and visitor bleachers, lighting
upgrades and a new scoreboard with a 42-foot video screen.
Concession
areas and restrooms also have been renovated, and plans are in place
for a courtyard on the hill above the north end of the field.
The
new bleachers also include seating for people with disabilities at the
top of the home bleachers and at the base of the visitor bleachers. Both
were areas that the school deemed as safety concerns, which helped
trigger the project.
The improvements were district-funded, but
private donations from the community paid for the new scoreboard and
video board, Superintendent Casey Coffey said.
The project started after the 2015 season, but the planning began three years ago, he said.
“This
is exciting,” Coffey said. “It’s really exciting. This community, you
think about the kids in this area and what they deserve — they deserve
this. This is going to be a nice community venue.
“The nice thing
like this place, and like Village Park (in Crooksville) and the athletic
field over in McConnelsville, this is one of the last ones that is
downtown,” Coffey added. “You still are able to preserve the mystique of
that community stadium thing right in downtown. That’s the biggest
thing in regards to the excitement.”
New Lexington head football
coach David Rupe, no stranger to stadium projects, said the community
involvement has been impressive. He saw the same thing happen during his
days as head coach when Crooksville renovated its stadium at Village
Park in 2009.
In that case, several members of the community
donated labor and products to ensure the project met budgetary
constraints and was completed on time.
The same thing happened in this case.
“You
can’t even thank the number of people that have been involved in this,”
Rupe said. “Ninety percent of the time it was our committee, which has
been a mixture of people in our athletics and boosters and some local
businesses. It’s really neat to see all this come together.”
Rupe
said the biggest difference in the stadium will be in the bleachers,
which will be far more accessible and provide more elevated,
unobstructed views from the sidelines.
The home side alone will seat 300 to 400 more than before. New fencing also will be in place around the field.
“We
want to take care of our people with new restrooms and be able to watch
their grandkids and brothers and sisters,” Rupe said. “They’ve never
had anything like that before.”
The improvements haven’t been lost on the players.
Former
All-Ohio wide receiver Brett Wycinski, who went on to play at Walsh,
admitted he’s a bit jealous he didn’t get to play in such a fine
facility.
“I may be a little biased, but I always thought our
stadium was one of the best in the league, and with these new
renovations, it’ll be hard to beat,” Wycinski said. “It’s going to be so
much better for the fans, too. Those bleachers were definitely in need
of some help. I can’t wait to watch the first game played there this
year. It’s going to be awesome.”
Senior Bradley Clapper, one of
the MVL’s top returning quarterbacks, said the players were overwhelmed
by the number of improvements.
“We already had a really nice
stadium,” Clapper said. “They spent a lot of money to get a lot of
stuff. We just can’t wait to run out there on Friday nights. I wasn’t
expecting this much, maybe new bleachers, but they’ve done a lot more
than just that.”
He said the team is feeding off the excitement.
“Our
team has been into it more this year than we have at any time in my
career,” Clapper said. “Coming off a 3-7 year and how much talent we
have, we’re just looking forward to getting the season started.”
Coffey, a former football standout at Morgan, said the improvements merely add to the strength of the MVL.
“It’s
one of the last places, one of the very few leagues and types of
situations where it’s fraternal,” Coffey said. “It’s very special, and
this just adds to that special feeling and that mystique.”