A ‘long time coming’: Two Midlands schools debut on-campus football stadiums
Derek Howard was part of one milestone event in Ridge View’s football history. He is about to be part of another.
Howard was the starting quarterback for the Blazers in the program’s inaugural season. Now the head coach, he will lead the team Friday into its first game in Ridge View’s new on-campus stadium, one of two new venues being unveiled locally in time for the 2021 season.
“We are excited about the team we have and excited about the community to truly host a game in our own stadium, and it is not a one-time thing this year,” Howard told The State. “We have some home games this year and we are excited about playing all those seven games, and hopefully some playoff, as we work toward the state championship.”
Friday’s game against Westwood will be televised as WACH Fox’s Sonic Friday Night Rivals Game of the Week.
Ridge View has hosted a handful of games on campus over the last few years, including a playoff matchup, but the school and existing field couldn’t host games on a weekly basis. The school opened in 1995 and played its home games at Spring Valley’s Harry Parone Stadium. Blazers home games were later moved to District 2 Stadium on Blythewood’s campus when that school opened in 2005.
“We have been playing home football games away for a long time,” Ridge View athletic director Brian Rosefield said. “We got the greatest view in the country with the sunset over the visitor’s side. It is our stadium. It is different from most. Really couldn’t be more excited.
“We love our brand and everyone that comes to Ridge View, but to be able to come to a facility and stadium like this will be able to take it to a whole another level.”
43 years in the making
Ridge View won’t be the only school in the Richland 2 school district breaking in a new stadium.
After more than four decades of playing home games away from its campus, Richland Northeast will finally have a place to call home. The Cavaliers will open up their new stadium on Aug. 27 when they host Lakewood. RNE plays its season opener Friday at Darlington.
“This is an awesome facility. I have been around here for a number of years and have been trying to push for a stadium here for many, many years,” Richland Northeast athletic director Gary Fulmer said. “We tried things to draw interest. We have had some games here and brought in chairs and portable bleachers. Appreciate our district and our administration for pushing for a bond referendum. It is 43 years in the making and not a day too soon. I’m glad I had a chance to be a part of it this year.”
Fulmer has been athletic director at RNE since 2012 but has been involved in the district for several decades. He was basketball coach at the school as well as Richland 2 athletic director, so he knows about the challenges of having to play road games each week.
RNE has played its home games at Harry Parone Stadium since the school opened having to pack up each varsity and JV game each week especially if you left something back at the school.
“We played at Harry Parone for many years and it is a beautiful stadium, but any time you go 20 to 25 minutes for a home game, it is not truly a home game,” Fulmer said. “I see a dream come true. I always wanted to have our own stadium here at Richland Northeast, something we can call home.”
Funding, amenities of stadiums
The new stadiums at Ridge View and Richland Northeast and facility upgrades are part of the $467 million approved in a 2019 bond referendum, which will fund construction, maintenance and improvement of the district’s schools. Some of the improvements include new roofs, new stadiums, weight rooms, new buses, HVAC replacements and, in some cases, new schools.
As of May, Richland 2 said 38 of the bond projects were complete; nine were under construction; five were in the design phase; and 23 projects were in Phase 2 of the building process.
Among the completed athletic projects: Turf was installed at Blythewood, Westwood and Spring Valley, and a new weight room was put in at Blythewood. Other improvements will continue in the coming years.
Construction on the RNE and Ridge View stadiums started in May 2020, and workers still were putting the final touches when Richland 2 gave The State a tour of both facilities last week. McMillan Pazdan Smith was the architect of both stadiums, and both used Contract Construction as the subcontractors.
Greg Hughes of Contract Construction said building Ridge View’s stadium was a little more challenging because there was already a seated structure and field in place, and crews had to work around that.
Both schools were given $35.2 million toward their renovations, and some of the money went toward the construction of the new stadiums. Each stadium has a capacity of around 4,000 and features a unique set of amenities.
Ridge View built a new weight room that features 12 racks and turf in the middle of it. The school also expanded the lobby to its basketball gymnasium with two concession stands and space to put signs and TV screens on the wall.
RNE’s new stadium includes a Mondo track surface that enhances performance and decreases the chance of injury. A field house was built in the north end zone, which includes a weight room, training room and home and visitor locker rooms.
Ridge View will be adding an athletic field house in the future.
Both stadiums have a carpeted and air conditioned press box with several rooms for coaches, media and PA announcers. There also will be room outside of the press box for teams to film games.
Both school’s logos are displayed prominently as you enter the stadium, and RNE’s logo is also on the field house.
“I get chills thinking about it. It is a long time coming,” Rosefield said.
This week’s local high school football schedule
Games at 7:30 p.m. unless noted
Thursday
Heathwood Hall at Spartanburg Christian
Friday
AC Flora at Brookland-Cayce
CA Johnson at Wade Hampton
Crestwood at Airport
Cardinal Newman at St. Joseph’s
Chapin at Keenan
Columbia at Lewisville
Dutch Fork at Wren
Gray Collegiate at Camden
Lee Central at North Central
Lower Richland at Aiken
Richland Northeast at Darlington
River Bluff at Lugoff-Elgin
Saluda at Strom Thurmond
Wagener-Saley at Pelion
West Florence at Lexington
Westwood at Ridge View
White Knoll at Spring Valley
Saturday
Mid-Carolina at Newberry
Orangeburg Prep at Ben Lippen
Monday
Fairfield Central at Blythewood
Games canceled: Airport at Swansea; CA Johnson at Denmark-Olar; Chapin at Irmo; Columbia at Chesterfield; Fox Creek at Dreher; Timberland at Keenan
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 2:25 PM.
