McEachern to become first school with artificial turf field

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Posted 11:17AM on Friday, February 14, 2003

POWDER SPRINGS - McEachern High School in Cobb County will become the first Georgia high school to install artificial turf installed in its football stadium. The Cobb County school board approved McEachern's $1.2 million request Wednesday to install the surface, called Sprinturf, at Walter H. Cantrell Stadium and at an adjacent practice facility. The money will come from an endowment fund and will not be paid for by taxpayers. The school board's only concern was that the turf would cause more injuries than grass, said board spokesman Jay Dillon. ``But this turf doesn't have this problem because it doesn't have asphalt under it,'' Dillon said. ``It has rubber.'' Jim Dorsey, McEachern's athletic director and football coach, said the turf could save the school up to $70,000 a year on field maintenance. The project, scheduled to begin May 24, is expected to be completed by the fall. The only other artificial fields that stage high school football games in Georgia are Lakewood Stadium, shared by city of Atlanta schools, and the Georgia Dome, home of the Atlanta Falcons.