By Terrell Lester, Sports Editor
June 19, 2009 — Ever tire of seeing dirt moved around by heavy-duty equipment?
Pack a sack lunch and head off to Sequoyah High School. Find a cool vantage point — that will prove the most difficult task of your day — and sit for a spell.
Tons of dirt are being pushed, graded and moved darn near every day. From sun-up to sunset. Even later, some days.
It's the tangible part of a multi-million bond issue approved by Sequoyah patrons last year.
The school is building a fieldhouse with coaches' offices and weight room in addition to a football stadium complete with turf playing surface.
Workers will be squaring off against the sun and the humidity for weeks to come, creating a new gateway to the Sequoyah campus.
Already, enough dirt has been imported to raise the level of the playing field by as much as four feet above the former plane. As a result, at least two rows of bleachers will be removed.
Seating capacity, however, will be expanded. Some 750 total seats will be added, on both sides of the field, Eagles athletics director Scott Kiker says.
The press box will be expanded, gaining a second enclosed level. The stadium entrance is expected to be on the south end, effectively closing the old north gate where the fieldhouse will be located.
Fencing around the south gate and the fieldhouse is expected to be fashioned from brick and wrought iron.
Kiker is operating under a timetable that calls for the first game in the new stadium to be played Sept. 25. That would be week four of the season.
Sequoyah, a certified titan on the Class 3A football landscape, has scheduled its three non-district games on the road.
“We want at least a week to get the lay of the land,” Kiker said of the potential opening date. “We want the time to see how we will run a ball game here, instead of the ball game running us.”
He looked at the sky. Walked across the field. Waved at the workers. Kicked at small mounds of dirt.
“We have every confidence that the stadium will be completed on time,” he said.
“If the weather cooperates.”
Pack a lunch.
Watch the stadium grow.
Wait for the season to start.
