By Jorge Quintana
Friday, August 19th, the Plymouth Rockies will open their season against the Bremen Lions. The Rockies first home game will be accompanied by Senior Night and the new facility’s opening ceremony. This will be the 52nd meeting with Bremen and the last one, as Bremen will be moving to a new division in the Northern Indiana Conference.
The new facility is a welcome improvement to Athletic Director, Mr. Roy Benge and Head Football Coach, Mr. John Barron.
“I think it will be the best facility in the Northern Lakes Conference. Long time coming, about a two year window to get this done. Everybody has been working very hard for its completion,” said Mr. Benge.
Coach Barron added, “[I] thought they were great, the new aesthetics as far as the ticket booth and bathroom were in dire need of improvement, so I thought it was great.”
Senior players like Caleb Koss and Dylan Johnson have also shared their excitement and expressed caution about the new facility.
Koss said, ”It has affected the team. We get to be the first team to ever play in the new stadium. And our motivation is to not be the first team to lose in the new stadium.”
Johnson, however, knows the Rockies will have to exercise some caution. He said, “We still have to score touchdowns, but the new stadium has created a lot of hype for game day.”
Coach Barron also expects his players to know that the new facility does not change their game. He said, “I think the guys are excited and I think that they know a stadium doesn’t score points, but it probably motivates their opponents. Maybe even us, but I can’t answer that until we play.”
Some may have noticed that the stadium is not quite finished and that the stadium wrap is still missing.
Mr. Benge has confirmed that the wrap is delayed, but is expected to be up by the Rockies’ second home game against Warsaw. He said, “[The stadium wrap] will happen, it’s just delayed for a couple weeks. Our goal is to have that up by the Warsaw game, our second home game.”
Senior Night starts at 6:50 p.m Friday August 19 and the facility dedication ceremony is at 7:10. That is expected to last approximately 15 minutes. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.