TX’s NEDERLAND: Nederland was the only Class 5A high school in Southeast Texas without a turf field, but after a much-needed renovation, Bulldog Stadium
will soon have turf. The improvements, according to head football coach and athletic director Monte Barrow, will help a lot of students. “As you are aware,
I’m in the locker room during halftime of football games, but I also know that our band has been left out of some games—particularly in the past two
years. Alternatively, our Westernaires were denied the opportunity to dance. Thus, it’s not only football, our soccer team, or athletics.” The condition of
Nederland’s grass field has deteriorated recently, resulting in some incredibly messy games. “Playing on a surface would be good instead of
participating in any sport on mud,” Barrow continued. “In between that, our middle schools have cheerleaders, drill teams, band, and all those things,
like I mentioned before. Additionally, it was starting to pose a safety risk.” The Bulldogs took advantage of the unfavorable playing conditions, despite the
complaints of other visiting teams. We did use it, you know, with our kids, so I’ll have to think of some more ideas. We played on it far more than everyone else,
whether that was real or not. It served as a motivating aid for us. as a strategy to get an edge in a muddy field on a psychological level.” Barrow knew, too, that supporters would make jokes about their “home field advantage.” “My main opinion on that is,
