Filter by:

Print this page

Groundbreaking for high school football stadium

After five years, work under way at Oliver Ames High School

By Vicki-Ann Downing

Enterprise News (Massachusetts)

December 11, 2008

EASTON — It’s first and goal to go for the new football stadium at Oliver Ames High School.

After five years that saw the project left off school building plans, rejected for financing at town meeting and ordered by the state to include handicapped seating, a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Valentine P. Muscato Stadium quietly took place Wednesday morning.

Nothing has come easily with the stadium project, so it was fitting that the wind blew, the rain fell, officials stuck borrowed shovels hurriedly in the dirt and the entire ceremony was over in the time it took to snap a photograph.

But in the background, earth movers were already at work clearing land for the artificial turf field, running track and bleachers. A construction contract has been awarded, and the turf is being purchased by the nonprofit Friends of Easton Community Athletic Complex.

Among those taking part in the groundbreaking was Ross Muscato, a son of the late Valentine Muscato, who was a longtime coach and the high school’s athletic director for three decades, from 1960 to 1990.

“A lot of people have worked hard on this,” Muscato said. “Some are people who have been in the town for a long time and some are people who just recently came. They are working extraordinarily well together.

“That’s what pleases my family, and what would have made my father especially very happy, that it’s become a project that brings the community together,” Muscato said.

In May, town meeting voters approved borrowing up to $1.4 million for the new stadium. The project also got a boost with a $200,000 earmark from U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch.

But the force that drove the project down the field was the Friends of Easton Community Athletic Complex, a nonprofit founded by Selectman John Haederle to raise $500,000 for the project.

Haederle said the organization has secured more than $300,000 in contributions from more than 200 Easton families, individuals and businesses.

Heimlich Construction of Woburn was the low bidder for the project and won the $1.6 million construction contract. Heimlich has built similar stadiums at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School and Taunton High School, Haederle said.

The firm’s bid was less than the $2 million anticipated. While rising steel prices drove up costs for the high school and junior high expansion projects, the economic slump has benefited the stadium.

“While the current state of the economy is certainly not favorable, it worked to the advantage of this project by producing extremely competitive bids,” Haederle said.

Haederle said he planned to sign a contract to buy the artificial turf from Field Turf Tarkett of Portland, Maine, for $380,000.

In addition to the 80,000-square-foot field, the project will include a red synthetic six-lane running track with an eight-lane straightaway, bleachers with 800 seats that are accessible to handicapped patrons, and a press box with an elevator, also in compliance with handicapped access codes.

The new stadium is expected to be ready in late August. Oliver Ames will then be able to host state athletic events and championships, Haederle said.

Vicki-Ann Downing can be reached at vdowning@enterprisenews.com