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With the Phillips 66 Wood River Refinery in the background,Marquette's Dre Davis, right, reacts against Breese Mater Dei Saturday night in Roxana 8-on-8 summer scrimmage league action at Norman Lewis Field.

CM's Devyn Ambrose, right, takes a shot against Roxana's Tommy Pohlman during an 8-on-8 scrimmage game Saturday at Roxana High School. The summer league featured eight teams from seven schools and finished up Saturday night.

Players form Jersey left, and Roxana watch the ball after hitting the turf in 8-on-8 action Saturday.

Myles Panigilau of Marquette, right, eyes the ball as a teammate shouts during 8-on-8 action Saturday at Roxana.

Roxana goalie James Shipman, right, watches as CM's Devyn Ambrose controls the ball Saturday night at Roxana in a summer 8-on-8 scrimmage game.

Ryan Klasner of Marquette, right, moves past a Breese Mater Dei player Saturday in 8-on-8 action in Roxana.

Dre Davis of Marquette, right, dribbles while being watched by a Breese Mater Dei player in 8-on-8 action Saturday.

CM's Devyn Ambrose, left, moves between a pair of Roxana players in 8-on-8 scrimmage action in Roxana Saturday night.

Roxana's Trenton Holloway,  left, and CM's Charlie Kilpatrick jostle for position as they battle for the ball in 8-on-8 scrimmage action Saturday night in Roxana.

Players and coaches from CM (background) and Roxana watch the action at Saturday night's 8-on-8 scrimmage in Roxana.

Dre Davis of Marquette challenges defensively during 8-on-8 action Saturday.

Civic Memorial head coach Derek Jarman talks with Chase Cameron during an 8-on-8 scrimmage Saturday night against Roxana.

Myles Panigiau of Marquette, left, and the Breese Mater Dei goalie watch the ball slip just wide of the goalpost Saturday.

Camdon Neal of CM, right, tries to move around a Roxana player Saturday at Roxana.

Roxana coach James Futrell talks to his team during halftme of an 8-on-8  scrimmage game Saturday at Norman Lewis Field. 

Players from Breese Mater Dei and Marquette Catholic in the shadows of the Philips 66 Wood River Refinery during 8-on-8 scrimmage action at Norman Lewis Field in Roxana. 

ROXANA - Roxana soccer coach Jamie Futrell had an idea about how to make summer soccer better and it came to fruition this year.

When Roxana High School's new artificial turf soccer and football complex opened last fall, he finally had a chance to make good on it, making coaches' summer contact days more beneficial for area players.

Call it a kick in the grass - plastic grass.

This was the first summer for Roxana soccer on Norman Lewis Field and the Shells took advantage of it by playing host to the first-of-its-kind 8-on-8 summer high school soccer league. Seven area teams field teams in the league, including host Roxana, Civic Memorial (which fielded two teams), Marquette Catholic, Father McGivney High, Staunton and Breese Mater Dei.

"Our facility upgrades the last two years allowed Roxana to do something for area soccer we haven't seen," Futrell said. "It also allowed my team to get on the same field together against other competition before our first game."

They built it, he started his summer league and the teams came.

They came to Norman Lewis Field in the shadow of the Phillips 66 Wood River Refinery behind Roxana High School for a first-of-its-kind experience. And as a result, they're most likely ahead of their pace from previous years.

Futrell had the idea for a soccer version of the popular 7-on-7 summer scrimmages that have been popular with prep football teams for summer workouts. With Norman Lewis Field available this summer, Futrell made the most of the chance and came up with 8-on-8 soccer.

The AstroTurf fields were installed at Roxana in time for last fall's football and soccer games, but not for the summer months when coaches are allowed by the Illinois High School Association to have just 25 contact days with their teams.

Play was conducted on Sunday evenings, except for the final week, which was held on Saturday because of the IHSA's "hands-off" period which began Sunday in advance of the start of official preseason practices on Aug. 8. During that lull period, coaches are not allowed to have contact with players or schedule practices.

But there was plenty of action on the field during the scrimmage sessions at Roxana.

With the regulation-size soccer field divided into two smaller fields, two games were played simultaneously, with contests at 7 and 8 p.m. Teams in the later games used adjacent Charlie Raich Football Field to warm up while the early games were being played.

The only rule changes were that substitutions were allowed during on the fly during the flow of the game and there were no offsides called. Games consisted of  two 24-minute halves.

"It's great to have the facility that offers so much," said Civic Memorial coach Derek Jarman, who helped Futrell set up the summer  league. "We had a couple of heat waves that hit, but that is what we will deal with in August and September, so getting acclimated now certainly helped."

With CM installing its own artificial turf for this fall, Jarman said getting more accustomed to the plastic grass has been good.

"We only have one game on grass this season at Jersey, so it helps us get our work in on turf until ours is finished.

"We were fortunate to be able to put two teams in and we're thankful for the younger kids being able to get valuable experience now. The games allow kids to get comfortable with their teammates, learn the game, meet and lay with kids from other schools."

As for the results, coaches stressed that scores weren't as important as getting touches on the ball and working on situations. In addition, the teams' head coaches were always on site to manage their teams, instead having a parent or other non-school affiliated coach attend, thus not burning up any of their allotted contact hours.

"This helped, being able to know in advance who we would play and with it being on turf, canceling games wasn't as much a worry," Marquette coach Brian Hoener said. "It's been good to be able to get in the work."

"Jamie created this plan a while back and I've learned to always support his ideas when he asks my opinion," Jarman said. " He's a genius, I think, and all his ideas center around the best interests of kids and creating opportunities for them to learn and grow."

Jarman said the 8-on-8 concept had benefits.

"Not sure if it's better, but it's a great compromise to ensure teams have enough players and allows you to work on similar concepts that will be implemented in 11 on 11.

"Numbers have been great because you only need eight, so that helped. It was a perfect number to get guys active and utilize a lot of subs."

This year's first 8-on-8 league could just be the beginning, Jarman said.

"Jamie could take this in a plethora of directions," he said. "Whether a league is created in the winter for boys and girls or a girls league next summer, which we wanted to do this summer, but couldn't. Or even offer this for younger kids down the word."

Sports editor Pete Hayes is a 43-year journalist. He joined The Telegraph in Alton in 1982.