The Inter-Mountain photos by Edgar Kelley Employees with Straw Construction Company work Monday to prepare the football field for the upcoming season at Elkins High School. The company will be putting the new turf down on the field in the next two weeks.

ELKINS — Elkins High School athletic director Ross Ware said everything is still on schedule for the Tigers to play their first home football game of the season on brand new turf at EHS Stadium.

The first-ever football contest on the new surface is scheduled for Sept. 9 when Lewis County comes to town to face the Tigers for a Big 10 Conference clash.

Before the Tiger grinders take to the field for their home opener, Ware said there’s a chance that the EHS soccer teams will get to try out the new surface first.

“We have soccer games scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 27 with Sissonville and we are hoping we can play those games on it,” he said.

Ware said that with the exception of laying down the actual turf, most of the construction on the field will be complete later this week

“They started with clearing the field and then they got all the drainage systems installed,” he said. “They have put something like eight million pounds of gravel down. They did so many inches of No. 57 stone and then they came back and did two inches of No. 8 stone, which is a finer stone. Then they rolled it so it would create a flat surface.

“After they get the field all the way smoothed out and then smooth out the outside where all the access dirt is, the only thing left to do is put down the turf.”

Ware said the turf is scheduled to be delivered either this week or early next week.

“Everything is done inside of the track. All we are doing is waiting on the turf now,” he said.

Ware said paving was to start sometime Monday evening on the track surface around the football field. He said it would no affect any of the upcoming scheduled contests.

“When they finish paving the track, it will have to sit for 28 days before they spray the rubberized surface on top of it,” Ware said. “People will be able to be on it, though. It’s no different than paving a roadway.”

Phase 2 of the EHS Stadium project, which is being done by Straw Construction Company out of Boswell, Pennsylvania, began on May 23. The cost for the second phase of the project is approximately $1,010,000.

Phase 1 was completed last fall when 2,000 bleacher seats and a press box were constructed at the field.

“Getting this project done is something we are definitely ready for,” Ware said. “We are happy with the way its going — it’s very exciting.”

In 2020, the Elkins High School football team played every game on the road after Wimer Stadium was deemed unsafe for spectators. The Elkins Middle School softball field and the Tigers Valley High School baseball field also were deemed unsafe for spectators by the West Virginia Board of Risk and Insurance Management in 2020.

In 2021, the Tigers hosted one home football game, against North Marion in October. A previously scheduled 2021 EHS home opener had to be moved to Grafton because EHS officials were still waiting on materials to arrive to finish the new stadium’s construction.