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Auburn players take the field against C-NS during a high school football game at Holland Stadium in 2017.

Editor's note: With sports on hiatus due to coronavirus, sports reporter Justin Ritzel is looking back on memorable high school games from his time with The Citizen in a series called From the Cheap Seats. All stories in this series can be found at auburnpub.com.

Auburn's Holland Stadium has a storied history, and the process to give the venue artificial turf was long and arduous enough to warrant its own tale. 

When the new turf debuted Sept. 22, 2017 for an Auburn football game, it was probably one of the few times spectators were more excited to look at a field than the game itself. 

That night, Auburn football played Cicero-North Syracuse. It was a forgettable night on the field for the Maroons, who couldn't match up with eventual Class AA state semifinalist Northstars. But by having a new turf, it was a sign that Auburn athletics were keeping up with the Joneses. 

Dating back to 2006, there were various Holland Stadium renovation attempts that fell through. In 2012, there was even an attempt by the Auburn Enlarged City School District to team with Cayuga Community College — Holland Stadium's next-door neighbor — but an agreement was never finalized.

Discussions were revisited in 2014 by Auburn Superintendent Jeff Pirozzolo and athletic director Tamela Ray, and in January 2016 a project to renovate Holland Stadium was approved. Construction began in the spring of 2017 and culminated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony two days before the game. 

I spoke with both Pirozzolo and Ray during warm-ups, and their excitement was evident. And for good reason — so much planning, convincing and building goes into a project like that. 

"It's total enjoyment. I'm so happy for our children and our community to have a complex like Holland Stadium," Pirozzolo said prior to the game. "I think it's the best in the state. There's no structure like this and adding turf just enhances the beauty of this stadium. It's a jewel of central New York."

Installing turf was an important step for Auburn athletics. So many large schools in Section III — Cicero-North Syracuse, Liverpool, Baldwinsville among them —had already had turf fields and it's a competitive advantage. That advantage isn't so much with the games themselves, but the weekly and offseason training. Grass fields require much more maintenance, much more attention, and more time to recuperate. During the fall or spring seasons, one rainy day could've wiped out the old Holland Stadium's usefulness for a week. 

There's an old saying: "Media starts with 'Me.'" Naturally I was curious how the new turf would affected my ability to report on the game. One of my biggest complaints about Holland Stadium prior to the renovation was that the scoreboard was on the same side of the field as the press box — a serious inconvenience for someone that looks at the scoreboard about 50 times a game.

With the renovation, the scoreboard was moved to the opposite side of the field. What a godsend. 

There were other noteworthy changes to Holland Stadium, too. For lacrosse, 50-foot high netting was placed behind each cage to stop balls from stray shots getting away. There was also a scorekeeper's table right on the field. 

Ultimately Auburn's loss to C-NS that night is a footnote in program history. The following week the Maroons hosted Baldwinsville and had a similarly disappointing result — and that game featured an extensive halftime delay due to lightning strikes in the area. 

While disappointed in that night's result, varsity football coach Dave Moskov seemed optimistic about the big picture and what a turf field meant for his program and others. In the two years since, Auburn won a home sectional game (2018) and appeared in the state tournament as Section III's Class A at-large bid (2019). 

"Our future is bright and we're very excited about that," Moskov said. "Our JVs are doing well, our numbers are great and the facilities are great. Those are great things for the future and I think it adds a lot of excitement."

Less than three years after the turf's debut, it's looking like money and resources well spent. 

Sports reporter Justin Ritzel can be reached at 282-2257 or at justin.ritzel@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @CitizenRitz.

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Justin Ritzel is a sports reporter for The Citizen. Justin has been covering high school sports and minor league baseball in Cayuga County since 2015.

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Auburn players take the field against C-NS during a high school football game at Holland Stadium in 2017.

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