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The new score table in Wilson Dome. PHS Athletic Director Ryan Scherling sits at the left end of the table during Payson’s season opening varsity volleyball game against Phoenix Northwest Christian on Aug. 30.
Payson High Athletic Director Ryan Scherling watches the varsity boys soccer game against Holbrook on Sept. 1.
The new logo on the Wilson Dome court with the new score table behind it.
A new 20-foot-tall inflatable mascot adds to the atmosphere in Wilson Dome and at football games.
PHS Athletic Director Ryan Scherling sits at the end of the new score table during the season-opening varsity volleyball game in Wilson Dome.
Ryan Scherling (left) at the new score table at Wilson Dome during the Aug. 30 volleyball game against Phoenix Northwest Christian.
The new logo and score table at Wilson Dome.
The new score table in Wilson Dome. PHS Athletic Director Ryan Scherling sits at the left end of the table during Payson’s season opening varsity volleyball game against Phoenix Northwest Christian on Aug. 30.
Payson High Athletic Director Ryan Scherling watches the varsity boys soccer game against Holbrook on Sept. 1.
The new logo on the Wilson Dome court with the new score table behind it.
A new 20-foot-tall inflatable mascot adds to the atmosphere in Wilson Dome and at football games.
PHS Athletic Director Ryan Scherling sits at the end of the new score table during the season-opening varsity volleyball game in Wilson Dome.
Ryan Scherling (left) at the new score table at Wilson Dome during the Aug. 30 volleyball game against Phoenix Northwest Christian.
The new logo and score table at Wilson Dome.
Go to any game or meet and you see it.
Purple and gold Longhorn pride.
As organic as it could be, this is by design.
It’s a plan to make Payson proud.
Ryan Scherling took over as Payson High athletic director in the summer of 2021 and got busy putting his stamp on the athletic culture.
It’s a grand vision.
Playing in top-notch environments certainly helps instill a sense of pride in PHS athletics.
Scherling has already started developing top-level facilities.
It was on full display as the Longhorns opened the volleyball season on a brand new Wilson Dome floor with a flashy new score table.
Scherling sat at that table and took it all in.
“It was awesome,” Scherling said.
There will be more of those kinds of feelings for Scherling and everyone who loves Payson High sports.
The Longhorn logo on the court had to be changed because it was too similar to the University of Texas trademarked logo. So, that was going to happen no matter whom the AD was.
But the district needed funds, and Banner Health stepped in with $25,000 to make it happen. Chapman Auto Center donated funds for the $40,000 score table.
A new softball scoreboard went up last season. The baseball team gets its upgrade this season, with new scoreboards coming for both Wilson Dome and the football field, too.
The Arizona Interscholastic Association has adopted a 35-second shot clock rule this year for 6A-3A schools (Payson is 3A) for boys and girls basketball, so schools must add the shot clocks near each basket. And Scherling’s goal is to replace the big scoreboard hanging above the court.
And a new artificial surface football field is coming.
It’s all part of the plan.
“My main focus since I’ve been here is tying everybody together,” Scherling said. “This town has so much support for all of our programs, but I felt like it wasn’t showing up. So, how do we bring everybody together, going in the same direction and have that same goal?
“Our goal is to develop our kids and we want to create an atmosphere for them to have success. And I think those two things, that’s our focus and those little things that people take for granted like the aesthetics, creating an environment for our student-athletes to play in, having that home court advantage is important I think for all of our athletes.”
A new football field could lead to the boys and girls soccer teams playing home games on the same field the football team uses. That would allow the school to charge admission as it does for most sports. They can’t charge to watch games at Rumsey Park, where the teams have played their home games for years.
Give them something to be proud of and they are.
Maybe Scherling envisions larger crowds than showed up on opening night in the dome. There were quite a few people there, but there was room for plenty more.
Those bleachers have been full before.
Hey, this is the home of the best little wrestling program Arizona’s ever seen. They packed the school gym, then the dome during the glory years when the Longhorns ruled the mat.
That arena can really rock with a packed house. And the AD wants other sports to pack ’em in, as well.
But you need the school board to step up and support a vision like Scherling’s. You must pay more to bring quality coaches in and keep them. Fortunately for him and the plan, the board increased the budget for athletics, allowing teams to increase pay and add additional paid assistant coaches.
And the Rim Country Middle School budget increased, enabling the idea of an athletic feeder program for the high school to really take root.
Add in generous contributions by non-profits MHA, Mogollon Sporting Association and RVN3 to those from Banner Health and Chapman Auto Center, and you have a network of resources fueling this vision. Chapman donated $85,000 for the baseball, football and dome scoreboards.
MHA and MSA have contributed $15,000 each and RVN3 donated $5,000 to be the title sponsor of all eight of the PHS tournaments for this school year. RVN3 also sponsored 19 student-athletes for their fall fees, contributing $3,600.
All these efforts represent a significant boost to PUSD athletics, which had relied more heavily on team fundraising projects.
The Tonto Apache Tribe has also contributed funds to repair the playing surface on the football field a few years ago. But there’s only so much you can do for a grass field that gets lots of traffic.
“We need turf,” Scherling said. “Our grass takes a beating from middle school sports, to youth sports, then obviously our high school football. That’s my next project. That’s the next focus.”
He said it takes a year to plan for a project like that, but he hopes to get a new artificial turf field in by the 2024 football season.
“I can be optimistic and say it would be next fall, but who knows,” Scherling said.
All we can know for sure is Scherling is pushing ahead.
He’s got a vision.
A purple and gold vision.
Contact the reporter at kmorris@payson.com
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