This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
The track is down around the gravel sub-base that waits for the artificial turf to be installed at Hauser Field in Bethalto. The Eagles open at home Aug. 26.
CM coach Rick Reinhart (left) watches one of his quarterbacks run a drill Monday morning in the first practice of the 2022 football season in Bethalto.
A CM player takes in a pass from a coach during drills run Monday morning in Bethalto on the opening day of practices for fall sports in Illinois.
The football field is covered by a gravel sub-base in front of the bleachers for visiting fans at Hauser Field.
The press box and bleachers are ready for opening night of CM's football season Aug. 26 when Marquette Catholic visits Hauser Field in Bethalto.
BETHALTO – A worker on the job Monday morning at Hauser Field laughed when asked if the project would be completed in less than three weeks.
“I’ve been wondering the same thing,” he said. “It would be tough to play on right now.”
What is planned to be a prep football showcase for the Civic Memorial Eagles by the 2022’s first Friday Night Lights on Aug. 26 is still under construction. The makeover that features a new artificial turf field was still a white blanket of gravel when the Eagles were holding their first practice on the other side of the school’s parking lot Monday.
The target date for completion of the field is, CM athletics director Todd Hannaford said, “As soon as possible.”
Of the 16 teams fielding football teams in The Telegraph’s five-county circulation area, six have new head coaches with David Parker at Alton, Caleb Williams at Jersey, Dalton Barnes at Gillespie, Rodney Flowers at Carrollton and Brian VanMeter at North Greene.
While those five coaches will be seeking victory No. 1 with their new program, Rick Reinhart will be looking for victory No. 98 as coach at CM. Reinhart, a Hall of Famer who coached the Eagles for 18 seasons from 1989-2006, returns to a head coach role after spending the last three seasons as a CM assistant. Reinhart's 212-186 career record includes a 97-79 mark at CM.
The Eagles open at home Aug. 26 against Marquette and are back at Hauser Field in Week 2 against East Alton-Wood River. Much works remains to have the football field ready in 18 days, but the deadline is expected to be met.
“I think we’ll probably be OK there,” Hannaford said. “I don’t speak for the district, necessarily, on that. But I haven’t been told anything different.”
Hannaford said no contingency plan is in place should delays come and the opener needs to be played elsewhere. Marquette’s home field Public School Stadium is taken on Friday night (Aug. 26) for the Alton Redbirds’ game against Cahokia, though Saturday could be an option if the district-funded renovations at Hauser are not ready.
“We haven’t worked on that yet,” Hannaford said. “Nobody’s told me to move in that direction, yet.”
CM will become fourth school in the Mississippi Valley Conference playing football on artificial turf, joining Mascoutah, Triad and Waterloo. Highland and Jersey still have grass.
“It’s been a conversation – maybe more so, a desire – ever since I started here four years ago,” Hannaford said of getting an all-weather surface at Hauser Field. “With the weather, the heat and then one day you get a torrential downpour, you’re really, really working our maintenance guys here at the district. They’ve always worked hard to keep it looking really nice, so it lasts nine, 10, 11 weeks, however long we get to play. It’s always a challenge because a lot goes into it. … Through the work of our central office, they made this happen.”
Greg Shashack is a graduate of the University of Missouri's School of Journalism. He has been covering sports for The Telegraph in Alton since March 1988. You can reach him at gshashack@thetelegraph.com.