CANTON — Five days after flooding for the second time since 2021 as Tropical Storm Helene ravaged Western North Carolina, Pisgah Memorial Field sat in ruins.
Mud caked the visitors' bleachers. The corners of the field were brown, which gave way to the green turf beneath as it neared the Pisgah “P” at midfield. Though the goalposts remained upright, much of the fencing did not.
Pigeon River, which wraps neatly around the football field, flooded to never-before-seen levels in Canton. It was higher than in 2004, which was called a 100-year flood at the time, as Hurricanes Frances and Ivan struck nine days apart . It was higher than in 2021, when Tropical Storm Fred wiped out the field and forced the Bears to play on the road for two consecutive seasons.
When the river crested at 25.86 feet at 1:10 p.m. ET on Sept. 27, according to the National Weather Service — 6 feet higher than Fred’s crest of 19.6 feet — it covered the field goals and left just three rows of the visitors' bleachers uncovered.
Heidi Morgan, Pisgah’s athletic director and softball coach, helped lead the program back from Fred’s flooding. When she knew the storm was coming, she thought she knew what to expect.
This was much worse.
Turf field repaired after Tropical Storm Fred damaged again by Helene
In the north end zone, the field goalpost sat at an angle, knocked over 30 degrees. One section of the home bleachers, a slab of large cinderblock where students and the band normally sit, was dislodged. What was once a ticket booth in the south end zone was now a pile of rubble.
The turf was largely intact, especially compared to 2021, when it had rolled up along the entire home sideline. But the rubber pellets were washed away, and drainage pipes had pushed up slightly into the field, causing rips in the turf. Though the fencing around the field was largely destroyed, many of the posts remained upright, and Morgan said she was optimistic they could reuse them.
The softball and baseball fields were even worse off, with fences gone and the fields needing to be raked and regraded.
“It’s a roller coaster of emotions, especially because we just got back here,” Morgan said. “It’s not about me, it’s about our kids. I hate it for my girls, who put a lot of time into this field.”
Morgan said teams were able to move equipment to higher ground because of advanced flood warnings. Most football, softball and band equipment, stuffed in the press boxes, survived. There’s no word yet on the baseball gear — though it was stored in the second floor of the baseball press box, water reached that height, and it remains too muddy to check.
As the school was making repairs after Tropical Storm Fred, FEMA recommended raising electrical boxes on towers, but they still were submerged by Helene. AstroTurf put in new field drains when it installed the new turf, but Morgan said the pipes are likely filled with silt and dirt from the river flowing through. AstroTurf will have to come back to replace the pipes, she said.
Pisgah seniors lose chance to play at home — again
The home season is over. For current Bears seniors, they’ll finish their career with just eight home games in four years.
“We did all this work,” senior linebacker Carter Browning said. “Sophomore year, we played every game on the road. No more games.”
Browning drove down to the field last Friday after the flooding subsided — just three years after his dad drove him down to see the aftermath of Tropical Storm Fred. He called it heartbreaking.
Even though he played in limited games in Canton, Browning still found it memorable. In Pisgah’s return home on Aug. 18, 2023, its first home game in two years, Browning made a sack right before halftime — a birthday gift to himself.
Browning was three weeks away from playing in his first home game in the Tuscola-Pisgah rivalry, one of the state’s oldest and most contested matchups. There’s no sense of when the season will resume, but football coach Ricky Brindley said the Bears will play again this year. Browning said the team still has something to prove.
Instead of preparing to play Franklin last week, Browning and his teammates were heading into the community, armed with shovels, chain saws and anything else to aid in the recovery effort. Some of his teammates have become volunteer firemen.
Browning said the experience playing at Pisgah was special — walking over the bridge and going through the fans to reach the field. He grew up going to Pisgah Memorial Stadium on Friday nights, and knew from experience that he could serve as inspiration.
“We’d sit there and pick a player, and say that was going to be us,” Browning said.
Days after flooding, repair — and relocation — still in question
After flooding again, the question remains: Is it time to move Pisgah Memorial Stadium?
“That’s a very loaded question,” Morgan said.
Some people in the community think it’s time to relocate. Others, powered by memories and history, think it needs to stay. The field has always been along the river, and memorials for fallen soldiers from Canton, which remained unharmed after the storm, sit just outside the north end zone.
Morgan thinks the district will have to look at relocation for financial reasons, as the cost rises while they continually repair the stadium. But Brandon Holloway, Pisgah’s assistant athletic director, said it would cost too much to move the field and they would need to get outside help.
“I think regardless of what path is taken, there’s going to be some hard feelings,” Morgan said.
Morgan hopes they can rebuild the football field for next season, and maybe even get the softball field restored in time for the spring.
WNC FOOTBALL: After Helene's destruction, WNC coaches don't know when – or if – football will resume
“This is traumatic for our kids,” Morgan said. “Of course, loss of life, loss of home, those things are No. 1. You can’t replace lives. But for kids, after they came out of COVID, and then we had the flood in 2021, a sense of normalcy is so important for them.”
On the scoreboard, next to the old papermill whistle that had been submerged just days ago, sat a small mourning dove. There were no signs that the Bears would be returning to the field anytime soon.
Evan Gerike is the high school sports reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times. Email him at egerike@citizentimes.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @EvanGerike. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Pisgah Memorial Stadium, ravaged again by flooding, faces questions about moving it
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