NEDERLAND, Texas — Nederland was the only Class 5A high school in Southeast Texas without a stadium featuring turf, but that's changing now with Bulldog Stadium receiving a much deserved facelift.
Athletic Director and head football coach Monte Barrow says a number of students will benefit from the upgrades.
"You know I'm in the dressing room at halftime of football games, but I know there's been games, especially the last two years, where our band didn't get to perform. Or our Westernaires didn't get to dance. So it's not just athletics and it's not just football, our soccer team."
In recent years Nederland's grass surface has taken a beating, leading to some extremely sloppy games.
"It would be nice to play on a surface instead of playing on mud in any sport," added Barrow. "Between that, our middle schools, like I said band, drill teams, cheerleaders, all those things. And it was becoming a safety issue as well."
While many visiting teams complained about the field conditions, the Bulldogs used it to their advantage.
"Well I'll have to come up with some different things because we did use that you know, with our kids. Whether it was true or not, we played on it a lot more than anybody else did. We used it as a motivational tool. As a psychological tool as far as having an advantage on a muddy field."
Barrow was also well aware of fans joking about their "home field advantage."
"My biggest take on that is, it wasn't really joke. Roschon's (Johnson) junior year we had one spot on the field that tackled him six times. You know we had nothing to do with it. So I think our field got credited with six tackles on him that night."
The Symmetry AstroTurf 3D installation, which is scheduled to be complete for football season, is just the first phase of improvements at Bulldog Stadium.
