It took two years, but the wait is finally over … and worth it.
Castle Park High School held an official ribbon-cutting ceremony for its stadium modernization project on Wednesday, Dec. 17. The school’s boys soccer team hosted Metro Conference rival Southwest on Saturday, Dec. 20, to kick off the first athletic event to be held on the new turf field.
“It’s amazing,” Castle Park senior winger/right back Nathan Rubio said. “It’s finished after so long. We have something to fight for now.”
Teammates Uriel Romero and Fernando Orozco concurred the excitement felt by the whole team.
“The stadium is back,” Orozco said with emphasis.
“It motivates us to play better,” Romero said.
The Castle Park project is among several ongoing stadium modernization plans already in the works. Bonita Vista High School’s new on-campus stadium was the first to open and has already hosted San Diego Section playoff events.
Mar Vista High School, Chula Vista High School and Southwest High School all are in various stages of completion or have started the process of renovation.
All are expected to follow the basic layout established at Bonita Vista High School.
Fans will file through a dedicated entrance with ticket booths, concessions and rest rooms available. Aluminum seating is available on both sides of the turf field.
The stadium is multi-use. The field is marked for football, soccer, lacrosse and field hockey. The track and field oval that encircles the field has nine running lanes, making it ideal for champion-level events. There is a discus throw cage and two shot-put rings as well as runways installed for pole vault, long jump and triple jump pits.
Storage sheds allow for equipment maintenance.
“It’s exciting for the community to support for the kids, all the sports, not just soccer,” Castle Park assistant coach Diego Espinoza said. “It makes a big difference to have something like this. The community support has been fantastic.”
Everything is ADA compliant with prime wheelchair and companion seating.
“We want to make the stadium accessible for everyone,” Espinoza said.
The turf field replaces what was patches of grass on a lumpy dirt playing surface. It should markedly improve the level of play.
“It feels great to try out a new field,” Southwest junior goalkeeper Yaell Medrano said. “It’s going to help out the school a lot. It’s going to improve everything for everybody. Everyone who plays on it will be pleasured.”
Southwest senior Bryan Silva scored the first goal in the new stadium, actually three of them as he finished with a hat trick.
Silva scored the opening goal in the 12th minute. Castle Park junior Angel Gonzalez notched the equalizer in the 19th minute to elicit loud cheers from home fan base. But Silva’s star would not be eclipsed with two well-struck goals in the second half.
The final 3-1 tally came on a rebound of a teammate’s shot off the crossbar that Silva buried into the twine.
“It was cool,” said Southwest head coach Guillermo Medina, whose team improved to 5-1 on the season. “It was a great experience. I told the team that even though Castle Park had been struggling that they would make it difficult for us, and they did.”
The Raiders, who entered Saturday’s match ranked No. 11 among San Diego Section teams, are competing in the top-level Metro-Mesa League this season. Southwest won a league title and advanced to the Open Division playoffs with a final 15-3-2 record two years ago but made a first-round exit in the Division I playoffs last year.
Southwest’s league opponents include Bonita Vista, Eastlake and Hilltop. Eastlake is the defending league champion but lost in last year’s Division I quarterfinals.
Players Medina is counting for leadership include Silva, senior Jael Perez, freshman Aronn Ramirez, junior Alejandro Enriquez and junior goalkeeper Diego Vasquez.
“League will always be a challenge,” Medina said. “We won it two years ago but last year didn’t go our way. If we can stay healthy and stay eligible, we could make a run at CIF.”
Castle Park (0-6-2) is away for two matches before hosting its next home game Jan. 9 against Mater Dei Catholic, 6 p.m. start.
The Trojans play in the Metro-Pacific League against Chula Vista, Mar Vista and neighborhood rival Montgomery.
The Metro-South Bay League lineup includes Sweetwater, Otay Ranch, San Ysidro and Olympian. Sweetwater is off to a 5-2-1 start while Otay Ranch is 3-2-2.
HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER RANKINGS
Girls Soccer
1. Mt. Carmel (5-0-2), 2. Coronado (5-0-0), 3. Poway (4-1-1), 4. Cathedral Catholic (3-1-1), 5. Rancho Bernardo (4-1-0), 6. Ramona (4-1-1), 7. West Hills (5-0-0), 8. La Jolla (4-1-0), 9. Monte Vista (3-0-2), 10. Our Lady of Peace (3-2-1), 11. Mission Hills (3-2-0), 12. Brawley (9-2-1), 13. Point Loma (4-1-0), 14. Mission Bay (3-2-0), 15. San Pasqual (3-1-1), 16. Clairemont (4-1-0), 17. Otay Ranch (3-2-0), 18. Imperial (6-2-1), 19. Mount Miguel (4-1-0), 20. Scripps Ranch (2-2-2), 21. Foothills Christian (4-2-0), 22. Madison (5-2-0), 23. Helix (3-2-1), 24. Hilltop (3-2-0), 25. Sage Creek (3-1-2), 26. Montgomery (3-2-1), 27. San Dieguito Academy (1-2-2), 28. Bonita Vista (1-3-1), 29. Valhalla (2-1-2), 30. Calvin Christian (4-1-0), 31. Kearny (6-1-1), 32. Olympian (2-2-1), 33. University City (1-1-3), 34. Morse (4-3-0), 35. Escondido Charter (1-4-0), 36. Vista (4-2-1), 37. Orange Glen (3-2-1), 38. Lincoln (3-2-0), 39. Chua Vista (2-3-1), 40. Canyon Crest Academy (1-3-2)
Boys Soccer
1. Central Union (7-0-2), 2. Torrey Pines (4-1-0), 3. Orange Gen (5-0-0), 4. Sage Creek (6-0-0), 5. San Marcos (6-1-0), 6. Mt. Carmel (3-0-2), 7. La Jolla (5-0-1), 8. Hoover (5-4-1), 9. Canyon Crest Academy (3-1-2), 10. Mission Vista (3-1-1). Others: 11. Southwest(4-1-0), 13. Mater Dei Catholic (4-2-1), 17. Sweetwater (5-1-1), 32.Otay Ranch(3-2-1),34. San Ysidro (2-2-1), 36.Olympian(3-3-1),37.CVLCC (3-1-3),43.Ocean View Christian(5-2-0),45.Montgomery(2-2-1)
