Good for you for putting your efforts behind your words. Has a new drainage plan been looked at? Is it cost prohibitive? What about usage plan that could take some wear and tear off the field? You all have probably looked at all these options but I am throwing these thoughts out there just in case.

 

It has all been looked into and unfortunately just way to expensive for an athletic program to fund. It would be pretty affordable for a school district but as we all know Boone County doesn't look at athletics in a very positive light! The field looks fantastic in August before anyone uses it there is just no possible way to maintain it when freshman, JV, and Varsity boys and girls soccer play on it plus Freshman, JV, and Varsity Football all play on it as well. That is sometimes 8 different games a week on the field

The field conditions would have been the same if played at Conner. Cooper and Conner may have the worst fields in NKY.

 

Conner field was essentially dry when Holmes played their freshman game Sat.

Conner field was essentially dry when Holmes played their freshman game Sat.

It also wasn't 40 degrees.

 

I think people are misunderstanding and and over exaggerating what the field conditions were for the Cooper game. The field wasn't muddy, it was slick period and a lot of that had to do with being wet and cold. Conners field would have been just as slick if the freshman game was being played last night also. I didn't see puddles of water, I did t see mud flying, I didn't see players falling in mud and getting up covered in mud or soaking wet last night. Shoot you could still read every players number on their uniforms at the end of the game. You don't see that if they played on a soaking wet and muddy field. Anyone who has ever played in the rain on a grass field knows you can't even read the jersey numbers after 1 qtr. that wasn't the issue last night at all.

 

The issue was because the grass was damp and it was cold, the field became very slick and hard to get traction on. If the field was just dirt as I've read someone in here try to say it was, it would have been better because dirt isn't slick. Wet grass on the other hand is and that is what we had last night.

I was at Boone County's game Friday night and expected a mud pit. To my surprise, the field looked really good and held up very well during the game. Sure, players were slipping at times but the field was in good shape immediately after the heavy rains fell.

 

Boones grass field is much nicer than coopers. Do they play soccer on it at Boone or is it strictly football? That makes a big difference.

We also have to take into account that the 33rd district soccer games were played on Cooper's field this year also. That is a ton of games to be played on a field that already drains terribly. I would have loved to have seen this game played on a dry surface. You have to give Conner credit, they adapted to the elements a lot better than Cooper and fed their big RB the ball over and over. Offensively, this year, Cooper sets up its running game with its passing game. Conner played well defensively against Cooper and that, along with the sloppy field, made it difficult for Cooper to get the passing game going. When you like to sling the ball and use that to set up the run it makes the running game ineffective if you are unable to pass the ball. Kudos to Conner, they were the better team Saturday night. It was the worst offensive performance of the season for the Jags but I expect they will be ready to go next week at Bryan Station for round 1 of the playoffs.

Boones grass field is much nicer than coopers. Do they play soccer on it at Boone or is it strictly football? That makes a big difference.

 

Boone plays soccer on their football field.

I was at Boone County's game Friday night and expected a mud pit. To my surprise, the field looked really good and held up very well during the game. Sure, players were slipping at times but the field was in good shape immediately after the heavy rains fell.

 

Boones grass field is much nicer than coopers. Do they play soccer on it at Boone or is it strictly football? That makes a big difference.

 

This is the best the field has looked in my 5 years around Boone County High School (I also spent two years in 8th grade). I was very pleasantly surprised how good the field was last Friday against Campbell Co just a couple days after the terrible storms. The field was slick but still in decent shape.

 

Things are usually more on the order of Cooper's field. I think the relatively dry weather we've had in late September and most of October is why the BCHS field is so good this year. You Cooper fans can ask @Yellow Card about the Boone field in last year's District soccer tourney. It was so muddy it was almost treacherous. It made it hard to play soccer. One soccer game was called at halftime last season due to the field conditions, though many soccer fans thought it was a conspiracy to save the field for football on Friday night.

 

Boone has used their field plenty this year. Besides football, there is boys and girls soccer, the Band marches on it, and Holmes H.S. has used the field for their football games when Boone has an away game, since Holmes is getting turf. So it has been used, perhaps even more than usual. But again, we have had a relatively dry Fall so far.

 

The biggest problem with Cooper's field is that it is rough, not just slick like any grass field would expect to be. I walked on it after the Cooper-Boone game and it appears that cattle graze on it and their hooves leave indentations. I think it would be hard to keep a soccer ball from bouncing across the surface.

 

But as has been mentioned, all football fields were like this in the good old days. No big deal.

In my opinion, if Cooper is going to keep a grass field, it has to be completely re-done. Grade it out, add more top soil, put in a better draining system, etc. All of this would be EXTREMELY expensive and would probably cost about half of what brand new turf would cost. It isn't worth that and Cooper can't afford it. I know for a fact that a TON of money goes into that field every off season to make it look good for the fall. It just doesn't maintain. There is no down time on the field and when it gets wet once and is played on it is ruined. I honestly think that it could be improved just by better draining as it would keep it a little more dry.

 

The field is usually a benefit for Cooper in most years as they build their team on defense and running the ball but this year Cooper is more of a passing team that puts up points. Not easy to do on a bad surface.

 

It was a hard fought game by both teams and Conner made a few more plays. Oh well, on to the next one!