Lake County Gazette

Libertyville High School will replace the turf at its football stadium nearly two years after the city's large Brainerd Field received new turf, Athletic Director Briant Kelly told the Lake County Gazette.

Brainerd Field's turf is the same material that will be used for the football stadium. 

“We installed turf at the Brainerd Field a year and a half ago,” Kelly said. “Once we installed that, you could really tell the difference in the actual turf. It was a much softer surface. The blades weren’t worn down or splitting, so it actually looks more like grass should look.”

Kelly said the original turf lasted longer than the school planned and he hopes the same will hold true for the new turf on both fields. 

“We got two more years out of the turf at the stadium," he said. "Part of that comes from the maintenance and cleaning we’ve done on the turf over the year that has helped for long life. We’ll do the same thing at Brainerd and the stadium turf. They’re on a maintenance schedule for cleaning.”

Kelly said the school started pulling up the old turf on Memorial Day weekend.

“I think it’ll be a much safer surface for our student athletes and physical education and athletics," he said. "I’m excited for them to have the nice, new artificial turf. I’m hoping it lasts just as long and eventually down the road we’ll replace that. But not for a while.”