end of an era

[hecanfoos]

This evening marks the last game on grass in Vacaville. Construction will soon begin at Tom Zunino Stadium, replacing the dirt track with an all-weather surface and (shockingly for many Old Dogs) replacing the Bermuda grass with turf.
The Bulldogs host Granite Bay this evening. The rest of Vacaville's 2019 home games will be played across town at Will C Wood.

 

[ThunderRam]

This evening marks the last game on grass in Vacaville. Construction will soon begin at Tom Zunino Stadium, replacing the dirt track with an all-weather surface and (shockingly for many Old Dogs) replacing the Bermuda grass with turf.
The Bulldogs host Granite Bay this evening. The rest of Vacaville's 2019 home games will be played across town at Will C Wood.

As someone that played their Varsity career on a real grass field and whose alma mater had a grass field up til last season, I'm as nostalgic as anyone else about them. So is my son. There's nothing like playing a well-maintained grass field.

That said, many of the grass fields are all but destroyed by October due to the volume of events played on them. And while I appreciate the old days as much as anyone, I never liked games being determined by who can better adapt to a mud or rain soaked field. In fact, it often works to the benefit of the lesser talented team as the great equalizer. So I won't miss that part of it. I want to see the best team win.

And it's certainly become more cost effective for these schools and their districts. So I get it.

That all said, I know the Vacaville contingent will be sad to see the old field go. Enjoy the last game on it!

 

[Pain's my Game]

Times are a changing... gone is the old school way of playing the game. Not many grass fields left and tonight's game was the last for Vacaville. They seemed to churn out a victory in the final quarter tonight playing smash-mouth ball. What will suck the most is play their remaining home games at Wood this year. Hoping the new Stadium is worth it all in the end!

 

[RidgeRider]

Spanish Springs in Sparks has a really nice grass field.

 

[hecanfoos]

They seemed to churn out a victory in the final quarter tonight playing smash-mouth ball.

The Dogs definitely imposed their will with that epic drive to salt the game away. Nothing official, but I think that was a 7+ minute drive

 

[PhotoGuy_271]

As someone that played their Varsity career on a real grass field and whose alma mater had a grass field up til last season, I'm as nostalgic as anyone else about them. So is my son. There's nothing like playing a well-maintained grass field.

That said, many of the grass fields are all but destroyed by October due to the volume of events played on them. And while I appreciate the old days as much as anyone, I never liked games being determined by who can better adapt to a mud or rain soaked field. In fact, it often works to the benefit of the lesser talented team as the great equalizer. So I won't miss that part of it. I want to see the best team win.

And it's certainly become more cost effective for these schools and their districts. So I get it.

That all said, I know the Vacaville contingent will be sad to see the old field go. Enjoy the last game on it!

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I remember those days, the teams would play teams that were fast, they would water the field down or tell the groundskeeper the not cut the grass the week of the game so the field grass would not be short & fast. I remember playing in a game it was so rainy & foggy that day you could barely see the other side of the field and we had black jerseys with white numbers. The field was so muddy that you could not see the numbers on our jerseys. Nothing like getting up with a face mask full of grass & mud,, and you can always tell who played and who didn’t by how dirty they were as well as who go knocked on their butts because the back of the uniform was dirtier than the front..lmao.. The good ole’ days… of rip pads & Riddell cleats.

 

[MC415]

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I remember those days, the teams would play teams that were fast, the would water the field down or tell the groundskeeper the not cut the grass the week of the game so the field grass would not be short & fast. I remember playing in a game it was so rainy & foggy that day you could barely see the other side of the field and we had black jerseys with white numbers. The field was so muddy that you could not see the numbers on our jerseys. Nothing like getting up with a face mask full of grass & mud,, and you can always tell who played and who didn’t by how dirty they were as well as who go knocked on there butts because the back of the uniform was dirtier than the front..lmao.. The good ole’ days… of rip pads & Riddell cleats.

When football was literally mud n guts!

 

[FBAddict]

When football was literally mud n guts!

I miss that guy - he last posted a couple years ago.

 

[MC415]

I miss that guy - he last posted a couple years ago.

Me too, talk about someone who could lighten her mood in even the most tense room