Finally after so many years without a a stadium of its own, the high school will get their own football stadium to call home. With Tarleton State University where the high school has played their football games since the 1970s now becoming a D1 university, the scheduling for events can overlap. Thanks to the passing of a bond and hours of planning, the Parkland and Crosshill companies will begin building the new high school stadium across the street from Henderson Jr. High and is expected to be finished by August of 2025.
The high school has had a contract with Tarleton State University for the last 47 years to use the football stadium.
“I want to say since around the 70s, Tarleton has been the only stadium we’ve ever played in,” Traweek said. “It’s time we have our own, so we don’t have to plan around events taking place at the college- trying to schedule events this year has become quite an issue.”
With the help and advice of school personnel, a blueprint is made for the new facility.
“A committee was put together that looked at stadiums for two different days and compared the districts of our size and brought in what we wanted for Stephenville ISD,” Traweek said.
This new stadium will seat about 5,500 in the home side and 2,500 in the guest side. Residents will have questions about parking spaces available, but they don’t know that there’s already an answer.
“We’ll be using parking from the home and guest side as well as Lembrock across the street,” Traweek said. “We already have enough parking spaces to meet the requirements by partnering with the city.”
This new field not only benefits those involved in football but also students, faculty and other extracurriculars. People all over town will feel the effect of this new installment.
“Not only are we going to see practices throughout the athletic programs, including football, soccer, marching band, but also if pre-k through seniors in the district have an event that needs to be held we will more than willingly share the stadium,” Traweek said.
With advantages there will also come disadvantages when building a new facility.
“When you have your own stadium, you have to think about everything from getting things set up and taken down by the end of the night,” Traweek said. “We’ll also deal with cleaning and taking over concessions.”
Alongside some assistance the modern field will be maintained in good condition with the help of those around.
“At the end of the night, we’ll have a group come in and clean whether it’s maintenance, custodial staff, or student groups looking for volunteer hours,” Traweek said. “Once you have a facility you want to make sure you keep it clean and well maintained.”
Students all over the school are buzzing about the recent “Ground Breaking” event that was held October 16.
“It feels exciting knowing that things are actually getting done and that they weren’t just lying about the new field,” Junior Cielo Puerta said. “I can’t wait to see it when it’s finished.”
Students and citizens are not aware that the deadline for the completed stadium is much sooner than they think.
“The original timeline was estimated to be the fall of 2025 to be able to play the first football game there, but we discussed that we would like to host graduation in the May of 2025,” Traweek said.
The new stadium is predicted to join the public and unite them with the first ever field.
“I am excited to live in a community that is so supportive of something that’s been a long time coming and a big need,” Traweek said. “I would like to thank the community because I will tell you, we will benefit.”
