By Torre Peña
Football players will have new turf to dig their cleats into next fall at Los Gatos High School.
Although no agreement has been signed, the Los Gatos- Saratoga Joint Union High School District plans to reseed the football field this spring.
"It's going to happen," said Dorothy Diekmann, the district's business and operations director.
The district received bids ranging from $21,900 to $50,000 to replace the field, said boardmember Bob Allen, who described the current field as "a cow pasture." The board favors the low bid from Landscape Environment, he said.
Landscape Environment would till the soil and plant Bermuda grass in March, cordoning off the field for several months to allow the grass to take seed.
In the past, maintenance workers have concentrated on patching troubled spots with rye grass.
"The more expensive thing is to wait until July and put down some sod," Allen said. If the field is planted by March, it would be ready by late July, he added.
Speckled with divots and holes, the field hasn't been replaced for at least 20 years, said Los Gatos head football coach and athletic director Butch Cattolico. In addition to being the home football field for Los Gatos and Saratoga high schools, the field gets heavy use from soccer and track teams, as well as the public.
"Saratoga High's final football game last year was like a mud bath," board president Ron Adolphson said. Saratoga's CCS championship team used the field in the open round of the playoffs last fall.
"The board is going to go forward with this," Allen said. "We'll call for a special meeting if necessary."
However, the cost of a new field is cheap enough that it doesn't need board approval. The cost will be split among the district, which will pay half from its maintenance fund, and the two high schools.
"We're going to have to have a fundraiser for this," Cattolico said. Some of the money would come from the Los Gatos football team, he added.
Concerned that the condition of the field endangered his players, Cattollico initiated the push for replacing it. And he looks forward to the improvements. "The new surface will be softer and faster," he said.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, February 26, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.