There’s an old football saying about making the level of play even on a football field in regards to officiating. Cathedral High coaches, alumni and athletic association members have been doing their own type of football field leveling — taking 18 inches of dirt off the surface of D’Evereux Stadium football field.

At the crown in the middle of the field, workers shaved down from 39 inches to 21 inches, planted new grass and put in a new drainage system.

Cathedral High Athletic Association member Joe Eidt III has been spearheading the project, a project he has wanted to do for the past 10 years, but one that came to fruition by necessity this year.

&uot;We started a soccer program three years ago and that field is not for soccer,&uot;&160;Eidt said.

The constant wear from football and soccer also made the move necessary from a safety standpoint.

&uot;The field looked great from the stands, but if you come down to it you can see all kind of ruts and the grass was ripping out real easy,&uot; Eidt said.

The project began in April as Gary and Duke Edwards of Pinecrest Contstruction donated their time and heavy equipment to grate the field.

&uot;It’s just our way of giving back to the school,&uot; said Gary, who graduated from Cathedral in 1972. &uot;Everybody in the association does what they can to keep the costs down.&uot;

Eidt said the field work was contracted out for $32,000, but volunteer work and equipment kept the cost down to $7,000.

&uot;We’ve spent an additional $5,000 on equipment and repairing equipment such as a spray rig and mowing equipment,&uot; he said.

Gary Edwards said the first process in rebuilding the field was taking a tiller and lightly tilling the field to remove the grass that was hard to get to. Then came the grating.

&uot;We lowered the field in the middle to start with,&uot; Gary Edwards said. &uot;We moved that dirt toward the sideline so it could drain well and we put drainage on the home and visitors side where the water wouldn’t look like a pond when it rained like it has been doing.&uot;

Once the dirt was removed, then came the process of making it as level as possible. The 37 sprinkler heads had to be removed and the grass was killed.

Then came the planting of new grass, and that’s where Beau Pr\u00E9 groundskeeper Ricky Maier, another Cathedral graduate, lent a hand.

Maier suggested Tifway turf be used for planting.

&uot;That’s what all the major college teams use,&uot; Maier said. &uot;It should be a premier playing surface just like Mississippi State, LSU and all the big schools.&uot;

Maier said it was like working on a fairway.

&uot;But it’s a more controlled environment,&uot; he said. &uot;You don’t have a lot of slope or bunkers to fool with. And&160;I was really impressed with the way the Edwards shaped the field. The grating is probably the hardest part. Joe Joe and Coach (Ken) Beesley have put in a tremendous amount of time. Coach Beesley cuts this field three times a week during the summer, and a lot of people don’t realize that.&uot;

The fertilizer was put in about a month ago, Maier said.

&uot;I think a few people were nervous about a month ago with a bare field and a few months to go before the first footbal game,&uot; Maier said. &uot;But I think everybody feels good about it now. It’s been a big effort and everybody has been involved. It’s going to be first class, no doubt about it.&uot;

Besides spraying the field for weeds, new goal posts and a new fence remain to be put up to complete the project.

&uot;It’s going to be a lot safer to play on and the aesthetics will look real nice,&uot; Eidt said. &uot;We pride ourselves in a good facility.&160;And it’s really looking good.&uot;

Beesley said he is more than pleased with the field.

&uot;We’re going to have a first rate facility when we get through with it,&uot; he said. &uot;I think all of the visiting teams will be surprised and happy with it too.&uot;

Beesley said football and soccer games were wearing down the surface

&uot;It was starting to get ruts,&uot; he said. &uot;It wasn’t as smooth as it looked from the stands.&uot;

Beesley said the new surface should be better for the players.

&uot;The new grass is thicker and will be able to hold up a lot better,&uot; he said. &uot;We should be able to maintain it a lot better in the future.&uot;

Eidt added the safety part makes the whole project worthwhile.

&uot;If it keeps one person from suffering a knee injury, it’s worth it,&uot; he said.

The first game to be played on the new field will be a Cathedral Middle School football game the first week of September.

Cathedral High’s first home game is Sept. 15 against Dexter.

&uot;We’re going to try and stay off the field as much as possible,&uot;&160;said Beesley, referring to practices being held on the baseball practice field adjacent to the football field. &uot;We’ll practice our kickoffs on the new field, but that won’t be until the week of a game. We’ll try to keep everybody off as long as possible. There is a soccer camp the week of July 17, but they are going to have it on the practice field.&uot;

The new surface follows a sprinkler system being put down in 1992, new lights in 1994 and a new press box when straight line winds tore up the old press box.