Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 67F. Winds light and variable..
Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 67F. Winds light and variable.
Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 67F. Winds light and variable..
Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 67F. Winds light and variable.
Spring Valley High School’s new-look basketball court emphasizes Navy blue with Carolina blue trim.
Workers began tearing down the press box last week at Tanks Memorial Stadium in Ironton. The 94-year-old facility will feature a new, larger box this season.
Spring Valley High School's basketball court last season emphasized a now-replaced Carolina blue with Navy trim.
Spring Valley High School's basketball court last season emphasized Carolina blue with Navy trim. The Timberwolves have flipped the color scheme this season.
Spring Valley High School's remodeled gym features a new scorers table.
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Spring Valley High School’s new-look basketball court emphasizes Navy blue with Carolina blue trim.
Workers began tearing down the press box last week at Tanks Memorial Stadium in Ironton. The 94-year-old facility will feature a new, larger box this season.
Spring Valley High School's basketball court last season emphasized a now-replaced Carolina blue with Navy trim.
Spring Valley High School's basketball court last season emphasized Carolina blue with Navy trim. The Timberwolves have flipped the color scheme this season.
Spring Valley High School's remodeled gym features a new scorers table.
Bigger, brighter and better are adjectives to describe upgrades local high school athletic departments made — or are making — to facilities this summer.
Spring Valley remodeled its gym, Ironton is building a new press box and tennis courts, Fairland is adding a football scoreboard, Raceland installed new artificial turf, Coal Grove announced a $3.5 million fieldhouse and Green is opening a new football stadium.
Spring Valley’s revamped floor flips the emphasis on the school’s colors, with Navy blue now at the forefront and Carolina blue as the secondary shade.
Gone is the Carolina “TIMBERWOLVES” stretching diagonally from one corner of the gym to the other, replaced by a Navy SV logo in the center and a Carolina “TIMBERWOLVES” on the Navy sideline. Navy replaced Carolina in the lanes, and stripes of both colors adorn the walls.
Spring Valley also added a new scorers table to its sideline.
“The new paint job looks awesome,” Spring Valley athletic director Tim George said. “I’m super happy with how everything has turned out. The before-and-after is pretty amazing.”
Ironton is building new courts for its tennis team and also replacing the press box at iconic Tanks Memorial Stadium. The historical landmark built in 1926 had its grass surface replaced by field turf in 2014, but has undergone few changes since.
Now, it will feature a larger press facility.
The old box often was stretched beyond its limits with media, scoreboard operators, public address announcers, statisticians and others forcing it to capacity. The scheduling of The Ironton Gridiron Classic this season created an even bigger need for additional space for those working games.
The Classic features three football stalwarts from Ohio taking on three out-of-state powers on Sept. 10. Cincinnati Moeller will play Our Lady of Good Counsel of Olney, Maryland; Cleveland Benedictine will battle DeMatha Catholic of Hyattsville, Maryland; and Ironton will play Johnson Central of Paintsville, Kentucky.
Coal Grove plans to break ground on its field house at Patterson Field in August. Football coach Jay Lucas said the funding is via a lease-purchase financing agreement.
“This has been in the works for a while,” Lucas said. “Our superintendent, treasurer, board of education and athletic directors put an extraordinary amount of work into the planning phase of this project. Projects like this require a team effort and they have really worked very hard to make this come to fruition.”
Coal Grove is a traditional football power. Lucas said the facility will benefit the football team, as well as all other sports programs and non-athletic groups.
“Coal Grove is a special place,” Lucas said. “It’s a close community that has a lot of pride. Our school district is no different. We all take great pride in being a Hornet and genuinely want what’s best for our students and community.”
Coal Grove’s and Ironton’s Ohio Valley Conference rival Fairland hopes to light up its new $18,000 football scoreboard, which was privately funded. The new board will be on the north end of Jim Mayo Memorial Stadium near the Dragons’ locker room, opposite of where the current scoreboard sits.
“I have five 25-pound boxes of bolts in my office,” Fairland AD Jeff Gorby said, with a laugh.
Raceland began installing artificial turf in May and plans to be ready for the Aug. 19 home opener with Ashland. Superintendent Larry Coldiron said the project cost $792,398 and was paid for through a facilities tax.
Green’s football team played last season’s home games at Wheelersburg while a new stadium was being constructed on the site of the old one. The Bobcats will open that new facility Aug. 26 against Fisher Catholic. A scoreboard with a video screen, artificial turf and a new track and fieldhouse are part of the upgrade.
Green also is building a $17 million school that includes a new gymnasium.
Tim Stephens is a sports writer with The Herald-Dispatch.
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