Sports

The Upper Perkiomen Mohawks football teams will take to the field one last time this year for the annual Turkey Bowl featuring visiting teams New York City. This year the event will be held on the grounds of the Upper Perk High School starting at 8:30 a.m.

                Anyone looking for a local football game this weekend won’t have to go far to find plenty of gridirion action.

                While the Upper Perkiomen High School football team will travel to Boyertown Thursday to take part in the annual Thanksgiving Day game, the 2009 football season won’t quite be over.

                At least not for the Upper Perkiomen Mohawks.

                The Mohawks, a youth football feeder program for the middle and high schools, will close out their season all day Saturday with a nine-game schedule throughout various age groups. In the past two years, the Perkiomen School in Pennsburg graciously played host to the event, but this year the venue will change to the Upper Perk High School.

                The move will allow the Mohawks, as well as its opponents, a chance to play in a stadium and under the lights when the sun goes down. The stadium will allow better seating for the hundreds of spectators expected to attend and allow the event to run more efficiently.

                As in previous years, the Richmond Boro Plainsmen from New York will make the trek to Pennsburg to take part in the event. Other competition will hail from Scotch Plains, New Jersey, with teams from Boyertown rounding out the bill.

                Ages of the players range from first through eighth grades, and the games will start with the youngest players early in the morning and culminate with an eighth grade showdown at 6:30 p.m. Kickoffs are slated at 8:30 a.m. (coached by Scott Nace); 9:45 a.m.; 11 a.m. (coached by John Connely); 12:15 p.m.; 1:30 p.m. (coached by Steve Martin); 2:45 p.m. (coached by Mike Ambrose); 4 p.m. (coached by Jake Hallman); 5:15 p.m. (coached by Bill Mellen) and 6:30 p.m. (coached by Joe Montalvo).

                After playing an eight-game schedule in the Reading Berks Youth Football League, the Turkey Bowl provides the Mohawks one final chance to play in a bowl-type atmosphere. All players involved will receive medals of participation, with special hardware handed out to offensive and defensive MVPs.

                “The decision to install artificial turf opened the door for us to have this fantastic annual event at the high school this year and hopefully for many years to come,” said Mohawks president Scott Nace. “We cannot thank Perkiomen School enough for offering us their facilities the last couple of years.”

                As in years past, anyone who pays the $5 admission will get a chance to watch all nine games, and a chance to sample some fine food at the snackstand. With the help of Mohawks concessions director Pam Byers, Pizza Como will be on hand all day to cater the event. Beyond the normal snackstand fare of hotdogs, hamburgers, soda, pretzels and candy, Pizza Como will provide egg sandwiches, steak and sausage sandwiches, chili and Italian wedding soup.

                If all goes according to plan, Upper Perkiomen High School student-athletes and band members will be playing and performing on the school’s new artificial turf fields by next September.

                According to high school Athletic Director Steve Perlstein, the installation process is expected to begin immediately following the conclusion of the spring track season in May.  Unless there are construction delays, the project is expected to be completed before the 2010 fall sports season begins next September.

                The purchase and installation of the new fields was approved at the November 12 meeting of the Upper Perkiomen school board by a vote of 7-2.

                The current football field will be removed and replaced with turf, while a second turf field will be installed behind the football stadium on what is currently the football practice field.  The secondary field will be lined for soccer, field hockey, and lacrosse, and will include lights and seating for 750 people. 

                A common formula is that one artificial turf field is equivalent to two grass fields, and that an artificial turf field with lights is equal to three grass fields, said David Horn, president of Architerra PC, who served as a consultant for the school board during their decision-making process.

                The final price tag for the turf field project is more than $1.6 million, which was cited by school board members Margie Gelhaus and Mary Young as the main reason why they voted against the proposal.

                Young said that she wanted the fields to be part of a “more comprehensive plan” that would include how to pay for the replacement of the artificial fields.  The school district expects to spend about $700,000 to replace the surface of the fields by the end of the next decade.

                As for now, the turf itself will be manufactured and installed by Sprinturf, a Wayne-based company that has built more than 600 artificial turf fields across the United States, including the Philadelphia Eagles NovaCare practice facility. 

                According to company spokesman Ray Bernabei, Sprinturf fields are built in a series of layers.

                After the current grass surface and topsoil are removed, a concrete base and drainage system will be put down.  Above that will be  two layers of gravel, to which the base of the turf is anchored.  A mixture of rubber granules and sand in-fill will be filtered down into the turf to provide support for the playing surface.

                As for maintenance, the artificial turf needs to be groomed every other week by a special brush attachment that can be pulled behind a utility vehicle.  The metal tines of the device keep the rubber and sand infill mixture from becoming too compacted in certain places and loose in others, said Bernabei.

                “In addition to the lower maintenance costs, one major benefit of synthetic turf is that it seriously lowers your non-impact injuries, which can be caused by a field in poor condition,” said Bernabei.

                A recent study conducted by the American Journal of Sports Medicine found that the injury rates of high school athletes did not change considerably when comparing natural grass and artificial surfaces.  During the five-year study, researchers found that artificial turf actually increased the rates of muscular injuries such as cramps and strains, but significantly decreased the incidence of more serious injuries, such as concussions and ligament tears.