Central Falls will be true road Warriors
Contaminated soil at Macomber means football squad will play games on road
CENTRALFALLS – Head coach Jeff Lapierre discovered back in mid-August that his Central Falls High’s varsity and JV football programs would be unable to conduct any home games at Macomber Stadium this fall due to apparent contaminated soil.
He admitted he, his staff and players were disappointed by the news, as now the Warriors must play all of their contests on the road.
“Apparently, there was some testing done on the dirt at Macomber, so the city contacted our athletic director (Anthony Ficocelli) and told him that at this particular time, (officials) would conduct further tests and suggested we seek out other accommodations,” Lapierre stated Tuesday night.
When asked why Central Falls couldn’t play its home contests at the Francis Corrigan Athletic Complex gridiron, he said, “It’s not in very good shape.
“I found out during the middle of the day, and I waited a couple of days to tell the team,” he added. “I talked to ‘Fic’ to make sure we’d stick to this decision by the city. The guys didn’t really respond, though I think they’ll be fine. I know they’re a little disappointed, as it will be tough for some of the players’ families to see them play this year. That’s the main downside to all this.
“We’re going to view it as a challenge. I know ‘Fic’ spoke to the guys and called them the ‘Road Warriors.’ We challenged our players, told them what a great feeling it is to go onto someone’s home field and beat them, silence their crowd. That’s the approach we’re taking.”
Lapierre credited the Warriors’ nonleague and Division III foes’ athletic directors for being so flexible in rescheduling events, not to mention his own.
“Fic deserves a ton of credit,” Lapierre noted. “He had to spend hours changing not only our schedule but also those of the boys’ and girls’ soccer teams. I know it wasn’t easy.”
CF will open its slate with an Injury Fund scrimmage against Woonsocket at 4:30 p.m., Friday at Shea’s renovated Max Read Field. It will travel to Exeter/West Greenwich for a 2 p.m., clash on Saturday, Sept. 9, then take on North Smithfield in its Division III-B opener on Saturday, Sept. 16 at 6:30 p.m.