Turf project for St. John Stadium will be done in time for home opener

Some patrons driving by Vian High School’s St. John Stadium during June and early July might have wondered if the new turf for the football field was going to be all in place come time for the Wolverines’ Sept. 5 season-opener against the Eufaula Ironheads.

Fear not, folks, as the turf will indeed get to be laid down before the Wolverines welcome the Ironheads to begin the 2025 season.

“We got word (on Friday) it will be finished, so we’re looking forward to that,” Vian football coach Gary Willis said.

Things were questionable earlier this spring and summer as Mother Nature was intervening with rain showers.

“That rainy month of June, those three weeks there, obviously put them behind,” said Willis, who also is the athletic director. “They’re working on it about 12 hours a day. They’re doing their part.”

People likely saw the mounds of dirt on what was the football field at St. John Stadium, but it, too, ended up serving a specific purpose.

“The amount of dirt they took out of (St. John Stadium) we were luckily able to have it moved and level our baseball field,” Willis said. “So our outfield is going to look really different on our baseball field. It was a pretty major project.”