Bulldogs home field returns

Intermountain Catholic

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SALT LAKE CITY – Judge Memorial Catholic High School will rededicate the field in McCarthey Stadium with a Red and Gold Day Celebration Aug. 13. The Judge Memorial students are anxious to get back on their home field and will showcase many sports teams; the Red and Gold football scrimmage also will occur during the celebration.

"We are glad to finally have a field again," said senior football player Jake Winter. "We had a field when we were freshmen, so we got a taste of what it was like. For the past two years we have been traveling to Saint Ann School, Granite High School and Juan Diego (Catholic High School) to use their fields and it’s just not the same at all. It is really nice we will finish our senior year on our home field."

The Judge Memorial field and McCarthey Stadium originally were dedicated Sept. 29, 2006, during the homecoming celebration. The McCarthey family and the Jane F. McCarthey Foundation donated $2.5 million to build the field and stadium. Then during the early morning of Jan. 6, 2008, the field began to collapse. Interlocking bricks in the retaining wall fell down and the dirt behind the bricks collapsed with them. In a lawsuit, Judge Memorial and the Diocese of Salt Lake City alleged both design and construction defects. Subsequently, the case was resolved through mediation.

The Bulldog football season opens Aug. 20 against Tooele High School.

"Getting the field back is mostly about what it means to the students," said Rick Bartman, principal at Judge Memorial. "Not only have we not had our own field, but we have had to travel all over Salt Lake County to practice and play games. It really means so much to the kids to be back in their school and on their home field. It does mean a lot to Judge in that the community can gather on our own campus to celebrate the achievements of our kids and of each other."

Going to a ‘home’ game at a different school isn’t as much fun for fans, said senior football player Ben Cook. "The environment is completely different. Now we can just walk outside for practice and we’ll get more done."

The home field will help with school spirit, said senior Gabbie Matinkhah, a soccer player. "It was more confusing for the fans because they never knew where the game was going to be held."

The athletes, too, found it demoralizing. "For the last few seasons we have said, ‘We’re going to get past not having a field,’" said senior football player Daniel Shiramizu. "But as the seasons would go on it would wear on us. We never really had a home game because we still had to take the bus back to our school."

Shiramizu recalled winning a football game his freshman year and coming out of the locker room with fans lined up cheering, "and we haven’t had that since," he said.

Athletic teams aren’t the only ones who will benefit, Winter said, adding, "It will help with our gym classes because now there is an area for us to run, play games and have gladiator fights in our Latin classes."

The Aug. 13 event will include a barbecue, girls’ lacrosse scrimmage, boys’ lacrosse scrimmage, the rededication ceremony, the football scrimmage and a boys’ soccer scrimmage. A girls’ volleyball scrimmage will be held in the gym.