Bellevue's new turf features 'classic look'

BELLEVUE — Bellevue did not mess around when it decided it was time for new turf at the Bellevue Athletic Facility. Athletic director Cody Cramer said talks about replacing the playing surface at the high school stadium heated up toward the end of the football season. When the Gridiron Foundation committed to funding the entire project, it happened quickly. "When we first started talking about it, the momentum grew to looking at doing it this fall," Cramer said. "We weren't sure if we could get another year out of it and we're very fortunate that our Gridiron Foundation wanted to fund this project 100 percent. "Really thankful to have a group like that wanting to give back to our school district. It didn't cost our school district a dime. Obviously it's a big purchase. The Gridiron Foundation said, 'Let's do it now and we'll take care of it.' " The price tag was $444,000 to replace the turf that was installed in 2013. The expected lifespan of a turf field is 10-to-12 years. "We're really fortunate to have the Gridiron Club help with this," Bellevue football coach Alex Shepherd said. "It speaks to this community, administration and school district. They want to do everything they can to help make it the best experience for our kids. That's who it's for — not just our football team but every other team that gets a chance to get on it." Maumee Bay Turf, which has installed turf in many area stadiums, was Bellevue's choice to handle the project. The company based in Oregon, near Toledo, started the project Nov. 11 — 11 days after the Redmen defeated Clyde in a home playoff game — and put on the finishing touches Nov. 24. "They said 10-to-14 days and that's what they did," Cramer said. "Probably would've done it faster, but when they started we had that first snowfall and cold and it froze up all the (rubber) pellets." The new turf looks similar to the old turf, with a few changes. The red feather at midfield is 14 yards longer and the field now features a bright white border that makes the out-of-bounds lines easier to see. "We went from the dotted line all the way around the field to the white border," Cramer said. "We wanted to make that more prominent and thought it would make the field pop a little more. It looks great." The end zones remain the same — "Bellevue" written in one and "Redmen" in the other. The turf also has two different shades of green every five yards. "We feel like it's a classic look, a simple look," Cramer said. "We didn't want to make a lot of changes because we liked the way it looked." The clean look does not include lines for soccer. Bellevue's new soccer program plays on a grass field next to the football stadium. "Our soccer coach didn't want to play on the turf, didn't think that was necessary," Cramer said. "They like their stadium and have full control over that. It's not that we didn't want to do that. We put in that (soccer) field with a scoreboard and want to make that a nice facility for our soccer teams." Maumee Bay suggested doing the job in the late fall, which made it easier to schedule. The project is complete and won't interfere when spring sports teams begin training or when football workouts commence next summer. "We're really excited for all of our athletes who have the ability to use the turf," Cramer said. "We use the facility in many ways and all of our student-athletes are able to benefit from this project."