ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 9, 1996 TAG: 9612100046
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: JACK BOGACZYK
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
There is a difference between Salem's state champion football team and the field on which the high school chose to play the title game.
The Spartans have a crown. Victory Stadium doesn't.
Salem got lucky on Saturday at Roanoke's municipal stadium. Although the best team did win, 20-12 over Sherando, the host school was fortunate the game didn't turn on a field that was unsuitable for a game of such importance.
When I walked onto the field at Victory Stadium about two hours before kickoff, I figured the two teams would have to dial up CMT for a couple dozen mud cleats.
Just a little playoff humor there, folks. Seriously, the field is an embarrassment to the memory of the man for whom it's named, the late Roanoke sportswriter Bob McLelland, a guy who loved the sport and high school athletics.
``I would think somebody could have taken a little better care of this,'' Sherando coach Walter Barr said. ``A place this big that could be this nice, shouldn't it have a tarp.''
Barr's remarks weren't sour grapes. He said that before the game as he stood on a field that slopes from the hash marks to the sidelines, but between hashes is as flat as the Roanoke Civic Center's ice hockey surface.
Barr was standing near a large puddle into which two Roanoke City Parks and Grounds workers were dumping 50-pound bags of ``Turface,'' which the bag claims, is ``for skinned areas.''
Well, it was the right stuff. However, no amount of repair two hours before kickoff was going to help a field that at nightfall on the game's eve was covered by a thin layer of snow and slush.
If it hadn't rained overnight, melting the snow, Salem and Sherando would have been playing in a large Slurpee. For a state championship.
As for Roanoke, it got a rent check and percentage of the gate, not to mention a repeated ripping on the telecast and broadcasts of the game back to the Winchester area.
The choice of the neutral site belonged to Salem. It was the school's turn on the Virginia High School League's rotation system among region champions. Salem athletic director Sandy Hadaway said the Spartans chose Victory Stadium for a couple of reasons.
Besides Salem Stadium, it was the only local site that would accommodate the large number of Spartan fans that would - and did - come to the game. It also made for an easier drive than other potential sites outside the Roanoke Valley.
However, this game isn't played for the fans. It's a championship game, and the players on both teams deserve the best possible conditions on which to decide what, for most, will be the biggest game of their lives.
Salem had endured a mud bath a week earlier on a drowned field in Tazewell, winning over Grundy in overtime. The players, just thrilled to be playing for a title, will say they'd play in a tar pit. However, that's not how a championship should be decided.
Salem residents constantly poke fun at Roanoke's lacking sports facilities, so the Spartans knew what they'd be getting at Victory Stadium. The snow and rain only made it worse.
Salem considered bringing its stadium tarp over to Victory Stadium, but by the time a decision had been reached, it already was snowing.
When Salem told the VHSL it wanted to play at Victory Stadium, the league should have refused that request. However, the VHSL is pretty much a rubber-stamp organization. It had field problems at other sites, too.
Salem asked Barr if he wanted to play at Salem. The Sherando coach declined - just as Salem would not have wanted to play on the Warriors' field in Stephens City had they been the designated host.
VHSL executive Larry Johnson, when asked about the Victory Stadium field at halftime, said the site ``was in better shape than a couple of others we're playing on today.''
The league should be embarrassed he had to admit that.
The VHSL plan on neutral sites is a good one. However, the potential sites should be secured before the season, and checked for quality by a VHSL representative as the season winds down.
Johnson said he will propose that the VHSL locate about a dozen possible sites ``we can use'' for championship games, sites that have tarpaulins, ``and if we end up having a home site, we have a home site. We have neutral officials.''
What the VHSL should do is what most other states do for championship games. They should be grouped at one or two sites over one or two days, preferably in a Division I-A or I-AA college stadium.
The league should be selling its championships corporately, particularly football, which is the VHSL sport with the most attention. The choice of sites shouldn't be left up to schools and coaches.
Salem could have asked Virginia Tech to use Lane Stadium. The stadiums at VMI and Liberty University would have been perfect to hold the sizeable crowd that came to Victory Stadium.
It was a championship atmosphere in the stands. On the field, however, there were no championship conditions. And ultimately, while the choice was Salem's, the fault lies with the VHSL.
Salem took home a championship, and left with little more than mud in its eye. Roanoke, thanks to a stadium that care forgot long ago, got two crowd-mangled goalposts and more embarrassment.
LENGTH: Medium: 96 linesby CNB