READY TO ROLL Perkins turf project enters final phase

PERKINS TWP. -- The new synthetic turf that will be installed at Perkins High School next week should arrive late Monday, pirate flag and all. A menacing black pirate flag will replace the pirate head that has resided at the 50-yard line since Firelands Regional Medical Center Stadium opened in 2012. The change was something decided by students at Perkins, who voted on several design options. "We went with what they picked. We thought it would be a good opportunity to incorporate our kids," Perkins athletic director Ted Sturzinger Jr. said. The end zones will be black with "Perkins" featured in one and "Pirates" in the other. The turf was manufactured this week by Turf Nation in Dalton, Georgia. The $406,000 project is being completed by Maumee Bay Turf, which is based in Oregon, Ohio. Maumee Bay has completed several projects in the area, most recently this summer at Huron High School. The Perkins replacement project was started on Oct. 27 and should wrap up before Thanksgiving. Maumee Bay's crew is finishing grading the field this weekend. "We should see some turf going down Tuesday, weather permitting," said Maumee Bay owner Brad Morrison. The Motz Group installed the original turf, which was breaking down, according to Sturzinger. "The fibers were just breaking down at a rapid rate," he said. "Our G-Max numbers (which measures the turf's hardness) were getting higher the last couple of years. It comes down to a player safety issue for us." Talks about the project began in the summer and it was approved by the Perkins school board. Morrison said the project has gone smoothly. "It was built well by the previous contractor so that makes our job easier on the replacement end," he said. "The people at Perkins are very detailed, which we like, and very easy to work with." The project started with the removal of the old turf. Then came the regrading of the base and checks for drainage issues. There are bags of rubber pellets at the stadium that will be repurposed. Morrison said the top quarter-inch of the rubber infill, which holds old fiber and debris, will be disposed. The rest of the 2-inch layer will go back on the field. "The remaining product, if it meets our specifications, we pull that out, bag it and reuse it," he said. "We pulled out 135,000 pounds of clean infill we can repurpose. We had to buy another 200,000 pounds." Morrison said the turf, if maintained properly, should last up to 12 years. "Use does not do anything to the turf," he said. "The two things that are really a detriment to synthetic turf are sun — you can't control the UV unless you build a dome — and maintenance. "It's just like your carpet at home. If you leave it dirty, after awhile it's tough when you sweep it to get it to pop back up." Morrison said most of the old turf — which covered 85,000 square feet — will be repurposed. He said if the anyone from the public wants a piece of turf from future projects they can contact Maumee Bay on its Facebook page. "There's only about 4,000 square feet that's going into a landfill," he said. "We do all we can to repurpose as much of this as possible. People use it for batting cages, sidelines, they're putting it in their barns. "We've seen a bigger influx of people coming after the used turf because I think everybody's worried there could be another lockdown this winner. We saw a lot more people turning their barns and garages into batting cages so they could work with their kids. I'm sensing that feeling talking to a lot of people who are picking up the used turf." ----- Area turf fields Synthetic turf football fields generally last 10-12 years, but with good care can last longer. Perkins' original turf was installed in 2012 and is being replaced next week. Here are the seven area schools that played on synthetic turf this fall: School&emsp;&emsp;Year installed Clyde 2008 Sandusky 2011 Perkins 2012 Bellevue 2013 Port Clinton 2015 Huron 2020 Norwalk 2020