Unbeaten North Schuylkill has risen to the top of the Anthracite Football League this season.

FOUNTAIN SPRINGS - Unbeaten North Schuylkill has risen to the top of the Anthracite Football League this season.

Spartan Stadium remains under water.

While the 9-0 Spartans continue to take care of business on the field, whether or not they will host their District 11 playoff games remains out of their hands due to the poor condition of their home field.

"I don't think there is anything out there that could get it ready," North Schuylkill athletic director Jim Gross said.

"It's not like you could put sod or turf down at this point. We aren't an NFL franchise. All we will do is hope for good weather over the next two weeks and our maintenance crew will continue to do what it can to get the field ready."

Already guaranteed at least one home game, North Schuylkill could wrap up the top seed and home field advantage throughout the eight-team District 11 Class AA playoffs with a win Friday over Mount Carmel.

District 11 representatives haven't yet contacted Gross as far as making a decision on whether the surface is playable, or whether North Schuylkill will have to play at an alternate site.

"I would hope that they wouldn't make a decision right now with the playoffs not starting until next week," Gross said. "Hopefully they give us the benefit of the doubt to see if it improves. If it poses a dangerous situation, we would move it."

Shenandoah Valley and Schuylkill Haven could be logical alternatives, though nothing can be pursued until the playoff plans of those respective teams are determined.

"No matter what, it's all about providing a safe playing surface," Gross said.

As for now, drainage issues have turned the playing surface at Spartan Stadium into a mud pit thanks to rain that has soaked six of the nine Friday nights this season.

North Schuylkill head coach Rick Geist pointed out that there is a cement footer in the recently installed all-weather track that he compared to a dam holding the water on the football field.

A new all-weather track was laid last month. The school district also planned on installing an artificial surface on the football field, but that didn't take place when a board shake-up prevented a decision to be made in time for the 2009 season.

Playing surfaces on the baseball and softball fields were re-done after the 2008 season.

"It's a subject I'm sure will be revisited next spring," Gross said.

On the field, Geist said the surface was so bad that his center told him that the ball got stuck in the mud several times while trying to attempt a snap to his quarterback during last Friday night's Anthracite Football League showdown against Panther Valley.

The water that has been laying at Spartans Stadium for the past few weeks has also become stagnant, creating a sewage odor.

"I remember going to my uncle's pig farm as a kid, I could compare that to our home field," Geist said. "Your feet slip right from under you."

Maintenance rolled the field and used a field mix in an attempt to absorb some of the moisture, but conditions haven't improved.

The deteriorating conditions hit full force on a rain-soaked Friday night on Oct. 16 when the Spartans hosted Bristol.

Gross called the Bristol athletic director that afternoon to foreshadow a possible make-up date. Bristol, which is located in suburban Philadelphia, doesn't allow school buses to travel that far and couldn't guarantee their charter bus for another date.

"We didn't have much of a choice and the field got torn up that night," Gross said.

Matters got worse the week that followed.

North Schuylkill was hosting boys' and girls' soccer games that same weekend.

Gross postponed the scheduled soccer games for the weekend, and the teams instead played several games at Spartan Stadium Monday-Thursday, Oct. 19-23.

"How fair would that have been to move the soccer teams, who work just as hard," said Gross, who pointed out that the boys' soccer squad was vying for a district playoff berth during that final week of the season. "My job as an athletic director is to be fair to every program."

Two football games against Mahanoy Area and Panther Valley followed in consecutive weeks.

So did the rain.

"We've had bad luck with weather; we're not the only high school going through this," Gross said.

Many playing surfaces across Schuylkill County - with the exception of the turf at Schuylkill Haven's Rotary Field - have encountered heavy damage due to rainy conditions.

Pottsville played host to poor field conditions last Friday night in its 49-23 over Governor Mifflin. It was the third straight week that Pottsville played a game at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

"If you cancel a game because of rain, then fans are screaming that the game of football should be played in the rain," Pottsville head coach Kevin Keating said. "You can't play football games three out of four weeks on a grass field and expect the field to be in good condition, no matter how well kept the field is."

Geist encountered the same issue as head coach of Cardinal Brennan, which hosted its 2003 and 2004 District 11 playoff games at North Schuylkill.

"We would rather play at home. I like the home field. I told the kids that we are no longer the North Schuylkill Spartans, we are the North Schuylkill Mud Men," Geist said. "Is it going to cost us a game? I don't know, but we love to play at home."

The playing surface issues go beyond Friday nights for North Schuylkill

The practice field is also under water, with two-inch rocks that become two-foot boulders if they are kicked up, Geist said. Practices have been held on the tennis courts, where it is impossible to practice special teams or get proper spacing.

"There is a lot of stuff that you just can't do for football on a tennis court," Geist said.

Keating agrees with the importance of having a reliable practice field.

"I've said it for the past three or four years when they talk about turf," Keating said. "Give me a turf practice field, that would be tremendous considering we share our practice field with midget, junior high teams and middle school gym classes. It is constantly used."

Currently, there is no mud on the Spartans' team goggles.

They are clearly focused on wrapping up their first unbeaten regular season in school history when they travel to the Silver Bowl on Friday night to take on rival Mount Carmel.

"I don't know what's going to happen with the weather or who is even in the playoffs," Geist said. "All I know is that we have to beat Mount Carmel Friday night."

Sign up for Text Alerts

Sign up for e-mail newsletters