Chapin High has backup plan for home games if stadium’s not ready for new season
Chapin High School is planning to play home games at its under-renovation football stadium this season, but there’s a backup plan in place just in case.
The school would play its home games at Irmo High if it doesn’t get the approval to host games at Chapin this year. Safety clearance is needed for the Eagles to play games at Cecil Woolbright Stadium, which is undergoing renovations that aren’t expected to be completed until early 2024.
The school already moved its annual Aun & McKay Jamboree to Fairfield Central on Friday. The six-team jamboree will take place starting at 6:30 p.m.
A meeting is scheduled for Friday afternoon to determine whether all safety requirements will be met and the team can play its home games at Cecil Woolbright Stadium this year, Lexington-Richland 5 director of operations Dave Weissman said. The Friday meeting includes the state’s Office of School Facilities, a fire marshal, a third-party inspector, and other safety and school officials.
“Things are looking pretty good,” Weissman said during Monday’s Lexington-Richland 5 school board meeting.
The plan is to play games at Chapin this season as long as there’s the ability to properly accommodate home-side fan seating as well as foot traffic into and out of the stadium.
“Making sure on the home side we had proper egress,” Weissman said. “That is our biggest concern. The visitors’ side should be done but we have to work through egress issues.
“... There always has been a backup plan. We already scheduled them at Irmo. That’s always available to us. I know the jamboree was moved to Fairfield, but we are pushing hard to see what we can do.”
Chapin is set to open its season at home against Irmo on Aug. 18 if everything is approved. If things aren’t approved this Friday, it doesn’t rule out playing any games there this year. For now, it would just mean at least the home opener will get moved.
After that, things might be on a week-by-week basis.
“We will have a better understanding after Friday afternoon,” Chapin football coach Justin Gentry said. “Our mentality is we got to go play no matter where we play at. Going 3-8 last season wasn’t good enough, so it doesn’t matter where we play at. Put the football down and let’s go.”
Construction began on the $7.5 million improvements to Cecil Woolbright Stadium on May 23. The visitors’ side of the stadium is nearing completion this week. New turf is in place and the team has been practicing on it.
Chapin had one of the smallest — if not the smallest — Class 5A stadium in the state with a capacity of 3,961 before the renovations. The original plan had capacity moved to 6,500, but Weissman on Monday said it will be at least 5,500 seats.
The increased seating will ensure the ability to meet requirements by the S.C. High School League. The SCHSL requires a minimum of 4,000 seats for a first- or second-round 5A playoff game, and 5,000 for a third-round or semifinal game.
A new press box, restroom and concession area and visitors’ locker room also are part of the renovations.
