February 15, 2007

Middleton’s Field takes root

Madison Edgewood will share the synthetic surface at Middleton’s Memorial field

Rob Hernandez | Wisconsin State Journal

Buoyed by a $600,000 pledge from two of its former football players, Middleton High School has formed a partnership with Madison Edgewood and Cardinal Youth Football for the remaining $300,000 needed to replace grass with a synthetic surface at Middleton's Memorial Field.

Middleton athletic director Luke Francois said Wednesday that local businessmen Bob Lazarz and Lee Bruce, who played for the Cardinals in the 1950s, have agreed to fund two-thirds of the $900,000 project. Their offer was contingent on having the stadium named for their former coach — Otto Breitenbach, who died in January— and Francois said that approval has been granted.

The remainder of the project, according to Francois, will be funded through money pledged by Edgewood High School and Middleton's youth football organization. In exchange for its help, Edgewood will share the football facility with Middleton and play its home games at Breitenbach Stadium on alternating Friday nights.

"(It) makes sense because Otto (graduated from) Edgewood before he came to Middleton," Francois said, noting that much of Edgewood's student population comes from the greater West Side of Madison. "This made natural sense for us. ... We really see a good partnership here."

In recent years, the Crusaders have played their home games at Mansfield Stadium and Lussier Stadium on Thursdays and Saturdays. They shared Mansfield with Madison Memorial and Madison West, and Lussier with Madison La Follette and Madison East.

“…it’s a guaranteed home,” said Edgewood athletic director Chris Zwettler

“It’s not a guaranteed Friday, but it's a guaranteed home,” said Edgewood athletic director Chris Zwettler, whose team also had to play a game last season at the Bishop O'Connor Center after a stretch of rainy weather limited Mansfield Stadium's use. "We're not playing at three different sites."

Middleton, which already has plans to build a soccer-only facility with artificial turf off Airport Road, would be the first Madison-area high school with a synthetic football field.

But it is a growing trend in Wisconsin with Schofield D.C. Everest, Hartland Arrowhead, Wilmot and Brookfield Central having installed turf at their high school facilities in recent years. In addition, several high schools — including Platteville — play their home games at Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletics Conference football stadiums with artificial surfaces.

Middleton's effort gained momentum at the end of the prep football season in October when the Cardinals lost their regular-season finale to Janesville Parker in a driving rain that left the field unusable for a WIAA regional boys soccer game the next day. Six days later, Middleton's football team traveled to Schofield for a WIAA playoff game and played on Everest's field turf.

"What sealed the deal wasn't so much leaving the muddy field (after the Parker game)," Francois said, "but to step onto field turf at D.C. Everest. At the end of their season, their field looked as clean and pristine as it did at the start of the season.

"It made us realize it would be worth the investment."

An eight-person committee that included Francois, Middleton football coach Tim Simon and football parent Al Toon, a former University of Wisconsin and NFL player, saw an opportunity to initiate the field renovation with a previously approved expansion of the stadium's track from six to nine lanes. Francois said construction will start in mid-May and will be finished in time for Edgewood's season-opener Aug. 23 against Sauk Prairie and Middleton's opener the next night against Janesville Craig.

"It's going to get built one way or another," Francois said. "But we still have work to do to secure full funding of the project. We have to continue to secure funds to repay those who have extended a line of credit to make this project happen."