Arlington youth football makes improvements to Haller Field

As football moms and dads can probably affirm, football takes a toll on the field.

After several years of play, Haller Field, behind the old Arlington High School and present Haller Middle School, needed some improvements. The field had big holes and grassless patches, with an expanse of open sand in the middle between the 40-yard lines.

“At the end of our last season, Haller Field was in rough shape. We looked at it and we felt that the field was unplayable due to safety-related issues,” said Arlington Youth Football Association president Dave Allen. “Without doing any work to that field, we were looking at possibly having no home games this season. It was that bad.”

Although the field belongs to the Arlington School District, the school district’s financial hardships this year meant the project would go on the back burner. Until the Arlington Youth Football Association stepped in. The non-profit organization that runs the area’s youth football league approached the school board about making improvements to the field that would render it playable again.

“We came up with a plan and went with it. There were a number of businesses that donated materials and gave us a reduction in price,” Allen said. In all, local businesses Agri Turf, A-Plus Earthworks, Rex Rentals, Grandview Homes, John Deere Landscaping, Jet Landscaping and Jim Tanis donated materials, services or labor to the project, which included new piping and an irrigation system.

Arlington football coach Greg Dailer, whose freshman team plays on the field every fall, volunteered some of his team members to do work on the project, digging holes, moving sod and the like.

All in all, Allen estimated the field renovations saved the district $10,000.

Starting in June, volunteers worked three consecutive weekends on the project. Now, the district is treating the field and grass continues to fill in to get ready for the beginning of the North Cascade Youth Football League season on Aug. 29.

Contact Arlington Times Sports Reporter Danielle Szulczewski at dszulczewski@marysvilleglobe.com or 360-659-1300.

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