Aurora Christian will have own field
Despite all of his accomplishments as coach of Aurora Christian, including reaching the Class 3A state semifinals this year, there is one thing that Don Beebe has never been able to do.
He hasn't given his team a rousing pregame talk about defending its home field, the old "This is our house" speech.
That is because Aurora Christian has never had a field of its own. The Eagles have played "home" games at West Aurora, East Aurora, Marmion, Mooseheart and Melrose Park.
That all changed at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday when Beebe, athletic director Don Davidson, school founder Paul House and a handful of other school and local area dignitaries broke ground in a ceremony kicking off the construction of a new field on the ACS premises, just east of the high school.
The Eagles plan on playing the first game of the upcoming season this August against Immaculate Conception on the new field.
"In the fours years that I've been here, that is one speech that I have never given but those days are over," said Beebe. "From day one I am going to be talking to the kids about this is our field and we don't want to lose here.
"I think it has been amazing how we have been able to adapt to every game being a road game but we treated Mooseheart or West Aurora or wherever we were playing our games like it was a home atmosphere. The community still came out and supported Aurora Christian football and I can't even imagine what it will be like on Friday nights here. It is going to be a cool thing to be part of, it really is."
The Eagles haven't lost much at all despite the lack of true home field advantage, running the table with an undefeated regular season last year before losing to eventual state champs Plano in the state semifinals. It was at Plano that some Eagles players saw how a raucous home crowd can influence a game.
"That is why there is a home field advantage, you have the intimidation factor," said returning starting quarterback Jordan Roberts. "When you go to a place like Plano and you look at what they had there, you have to walk into that and be able to get past that. Well, now we are going to be able to do that to opposing teams that have come into here and that's pretty special. I can't wait to come out here and see the place packed and a sea of red and white, it's going to be great."
"It's going to be a great atmosphere around here, it is going to be exciting to see," said returning receiver Matt Morse. "Our fans used to have to travel with us and now the kids are just going to be able to walk out the doors to get to the game."
Aurora Christian is beginning the first phase on construction immediately, the actual turf field. The money for the field has been raised by contributions from the ACS community with one anonymous donor matching the $500,000 that had been raised as of last Friday to bring the total donations to $1,000,000 and allow the plan to move forward.
Already over $127,000 more has been raised since that time. The school projects the total cost to be 2 million for the entire stadium to be built, including locker rooms, stands, lights and scoreboard.
As pictures were taken of the shovel ceremony, House seized on that analogy for the children in attendance.
"One shovel at a time, if everybody does what they can do, God helps us do unbelievable things," said House. "And I have watched just these past two months our dreams start coming true. As I stand here, I don't see a dark, dirty brown patch, I see kids out here. I see Special Olympics kids, I see senior citizens walking for their health. I see all kinds of activities that are planned already, field days, of course football, marching band, drum and bugle, cheerleaders, pompons, I see all of you, including our community sharing this place."
Davidson, the only athletic director ACS has ever had, reflected on how far the school facilities have come.
"I came here in 1977 to start the athletic program," Davidson said. "We practiced in Blackhawk gym that was about 40 degrees and we were thankful for that gym. In 1996, we went to the new gym that seated 675 people and if you weren't there by 4:30 you couldn't get a seat. A few years ago, we added a beautiful gym here and we laid the sod for this practice field and now here we are with a new stadium."