A look at the week ahead.....

Today we travel to Walkerton to play Glenn. The bus leaves at 4:30 pm. There is no JV practice on Monday. Tuesday we face Plymouth for the final home game of the season and if you go by what we are told, the final boys game ever at the game field at the elementary school. We say goodbye to the old Nappanee High School football field that we called home for 23 years! The field was in awful condition when Duerksen and I started 21 seasons ago. Games were cancelled due to standing water (we physically took hundreds of buckets of water off the field one season when the team spent a Saturday doing that instead of playing), the track around the field was taken out, the old high school wooden bleachers were removed and replaced by the new ones. A ticket booth was added as were dug outs and a press box. The football score board finally was replaced when only about 11 light bulbs lit up anymore and most importantly, the field received an in ground sprinkler system and with the help from a parent volunteer who has rolled the field for years now, the pitch actually looks decent. So when we leave this facility, it is NOT with a heavy heart. The lights are dismal, and despite all the efforts, it is still one of the worst fields we play on every season. We liked the location but not the pitch itself. So, we do look forward to moving to an artificial turf facility on the south side of the soccer complex behind the Northside apartments next season. With it being the final home game tomorrow comes the implication that it is also Senior Night. The weather looks great and we are hoping for a large crowd to honor the seniors of the 2017 squad: Mason Mast, Matt Thornton, Corbin Taylor, Jadon Steinmetz, Juan Pantoja (4 year Varsity starter), Micah Pippinger and Randy Kauffman. JV starts at 5 pm and the Varsity at 6:45 pm. Wednesday practice will be at the High School training ground and on Thursday we will play at Bethany Christian (probably another senior night). Friday we will practice (location TBD) until about 5 pm. An extra practice has been scheduled for Saturday in preparation for the Sectional Game next Monday. The Saturday practice is from 10- 11 am at the game field.