New turf for Brookings Harbor

For years, Brookings-Harbor's best-laid plans to install an artificial turf football field always seemed to hit a snag.

“Funding sources fell through,” athletic director Keith Wallin said. “Lot of different reasons. Nobody's fault, just logistically didn't work out.”

This week, though, those dreams are about to be realized. On Tuesday, workers will begin laying FieldTurf on the stadium field at Brookings-Harbor, giving the 3A Bruins the only artificial turf football surface within a two-hour drive on the South Coast.

“This is about the third go we've had at trying to do this,” Wallin said. “We've got a lot of really special things planned.”

The football field is part of a nearly $2 million facilities upgrade. The school also is installing a new track, replacing the artificial turf infield on the softball field and building a multi-use practice field from the soil removed from the stadium field.

“It's a construction-filled summer around here,” Wallin said.

Much of it was made possible by South Coast Lumber, which made contributions responsible for about two-thirds of the project. Tidewater Contractors contributed excavation and paving. Many other local sub-contractors chipped in. And the school's booster club has helped with cost overruns.

“South Coast Lumber stepped up and said, 'We want to do something special,'” Wallin said. “There was just a lot great community help for it. The guys that were working on it were all guys that graduated from Brookings. They've got ownership.

“We're really trying not to incur much, if any, costs to the school district, especially with tight budget times.”

Construction on a new track will begin once the turf installation is completed in a few weeks. The school has opted to paint the track blue and gold.

“Just something to make it personal, a little signature,” Wallin said.

The artificial turf field not only will benefit Brookings-Harbor, but it could play host to events for other schools on the South Coast, especially late in the season when grass fields turn muddy. The closest artificial turf football fields are about 100 miles away at Marshfield, Hidden Valley and Grants Pass high schools.

Wallin said the school also is looking into playing host to summer events.

“We have some really big plans in the future to host some 7-v-7 soccer tournaments in the summertime, when we know the valley schools are going to want to come over to get out of the heat,” he said. “And we're also starting early-stage plans to host a major football camp. We're also fully prepared for valley schools to call us when they're having to deal with smoke.”

The Brookings-Harbor stadium field not only had a severe crown – about four feet – but it retained a lot of water due to the content of the soil. Heavily used by the community, it often became very soft. At certain times of the year, the surface would become rock hard.

Due to jumping pits and light towers inside the track, the playable area was too narrow for soccer matches, forcing the school's teams to play on the baseball outfield.

To prepare for the project, the school moved the light towers outside the track in early 2023. This summer, the school moved the jumping pits to each end of the field, between the end zones and the track.

That means the playable area finally is big enough to accommodate soccer matches. School teams also will be able to practice on the new grass field that is being constructed adjacent to the stadium field.

“That was never a usable space before,” Wallin said.

The new fields will complement the school's 100x120-foot indoor artificial turf facility that was built 15 years ago.

“Between our weight room and our indoor facility, and now this facility, it's truly going to be really, really special,” Wallin said.