From The Citizen, August 25, 2004

Stadium opening delayed

By: CHUCK HLAVA , Citizen Staff

All the passengers for the renovated Clear Creek ISD Stadium made the train on time, except for one.

The tardy rider turned out to be the press box, which was delivered a few days late and has caused postponement by nearly a week of the season's first football game in District Stadium.
Clear Creek High was scheduled to unveil the stadium to the public on Friday night by hosting Friendswood High in the season football opener. This delay in the structure's completion has forced the two schools to play trading places. The game has now been shifted to Henry Winston Stadium in Friendswood. Kickoff is 7 p.m. on Friday.
CCISD's other two high school teams, Clear Brook and Clear Lake, have away games. Lake plays at Tomball on Friday while Brook meets Nimitz in Thorne Stadium Saturday.
District Stadium is now set to open on Thursday, Sept. 2, when Clear Brook hosts Oak Ridge at 7:30 p.m.
"It's an honor to have the first game in the stadium," said Brook head football coach Edward Arledge.
"After playing on the old field last season, it's going to be a wonderful experience playing on the new field. We are looking forward to it," he added.
Trucks hauled the new press box into the compound last week and it was carefully lifted and placed into position on Thursday and Friday. The press box took its dominant position overlooking the entire compound, which includes new artificial turf and a new scoreboard.
Scoreboard gets sponsor
The district received a definite boost last week when the new $150,000 scoreboard got a sponsor. Southwest Bank of Texas agreed to be a primary sponsor of the high tech electronic structure.
CCISD is spending $3.9 million for the stadium's upgrades, which also includes re-do's on the concession stands, ticket booth, sidewalks and restrooms. The stadium will also be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act with the installation of new ramps so people in wheelchairs can sit in the stands.
Now that the press box is in place, the time-consuming work of making sure all the electrical wiring is done correctly and safely comes next.
This hold-up is basically just a minor speed bump in the road to stadium recovery.
At first, there was some confusion which team would play the initial game in the stadium. An earlier football schedule showed Clear Brook hosting Oak Ridge on Saturday, Sept. 4. Thus, Clear Creek's staff thought they had the first game at the stadium anyway with the Sept. 3 date.
However, that proved short-lived when later schedules showed Clear Brook playing on Thursday, Sept. 2.
"That's the way it goes," said Clear Creek coach Aubrey Schulz after learning the Wildcats will be the second game in the stadium.
"It would have been nice, but we're just happy to be playing on the new turf." Schulz said. "It's much better than the old stuff."
The Sept. 3 game finds the Cats hosting Kingwood.
Schulz is the dean of the district's head high school coaches and he has been waiting for the old stadium with the tired soil to be revamped. The extra few days before his squad takes to the new turf won't tax him and the fact that they will follow Clear Brook on the field is no big deal.
"I've waited 20 years for this. I guess I can wait one more week," he said about the switch of the Friendswood game. "It's been well worth the wait."
Being the first, second or third to play on the new field didn't matter to Arledge either.
"I never really thought about being the first team or whatever. I am just happy we have a new playing surface," Arledge said.
The administration has been satisfied with the work on the stadium. Some heavy rains didn't really put the expected opening in jeopardy until the press box failed to show.
"Everything was going along to plan," said Carrie Taylor, CCISD's public information coordinator, "except for the press box. That turned out to be a shipping issue. The press box is now up there but the electrical installation will take a little time.
"Overall, we're still going great. We're getting the concession stand and ticket booth up and everything will be ready for Sept. 2," she added.
"In the meantime, we hope all the Clear Creek fans will be in Friendswood with their pom pons on Friday cheering the team."