Submitted photo – A photo of the playing surface at Mike Whalen Field taken on Tuesday morning clearly shows the field is in good condition.
By Ray Hamill — Hopefully the powers inside the CIF will come to their senses this week. The fact that they haven’t done so already is concerning enough.
On Monday, it came to light that the CIF is considering moving this Saturday night’s 5-AA state championship football game between Del Norte and El Monte from Crescent City to Arcata’s Redwood Bowl because of concerns over how this week’s rain will affect the surface.
This is ludicrous for two reasons.
One, there is absolutely no reason to switch the game from a surface that is clearly in pristine condition, and especially so when the opponents appear quite happy to travel to play on it.
And two, what does it say for the CIF when just five days before kickoff neither team knows where they are going to be playing the biggest games of their lives?
This affects players, coaches, parents and fans of both teams, especially the visitors who have to make travel arrangements.
Exactly why the field is even a concern is bewildering all on its own.
What suggested there was any problem with a surface that has barely even been walked on for the past three weeks after not a whole of rain this year?
A photo of the surface taken this morning makes it appear to be in near perfect condition, and the school has placed a tarp over the field for the week to hold off the forecast rain.
I’ve been at two games there in the past month and on neither occasion was the field problematic in any way.
What’s particularly frustrating for Del Norte fans is that this type of occasion doesn’t come along very often.
This is the first ever-state bowl appearance for the program and the first-ever state championship game in the sport to be held in Crescent City.
As head coach Nick White said, “everyone and their grandma is coming,” and hosting such an event would be an occasion for the ages with thousands expected to attend.
To take that away at the last minute for no substantial reason would be ridiculous and cruel.
The CIF needs to do the right thing here.
They need to keep the game at Mike Whalen Field.
The Del Norte Warriors deserve better than this after everything they’ve worked so hard for this season.
Just too bad a big basketball tournament is at the same school, same day and will fill the motels.
Here is my two cents on the matter. If the field conditions are good, keep the game in Crescent City. Del Norte EARNED the right to host the game. Now, we are looking for COP-OUTS in preventing the game from being played there. Their opponent has no problems on the game being played there, so it should be a moot point. It will be a crime in my book if Del Norte has to play in the Redwood Bowl this weekend.
In regards to the Crescent City Jaycees tournament, there are 40 teams playing across five divisions for 8th grade girls basketball. That is 16 fewer teams than the boys tournament in March, which is across seven divisions. I believe there will be a solution to problem that the Crescent City community can figure out in this situation.
If Del Norte can’t host this year’s State title game, when will be a perfect moment for Del Norte to EVER host that game. That answer will be NEVER if the game is moved.
DO THE RIGHT THING CIF, KEEP THE GAME IN CRESCENT CITY FOR DEL NORTE TO HOST!!!!
The whole community is coming home from up to thousands of miles away, this is a huge event for the community, and there is zero reason to have this uncertainty.