“About a month ago, Sid Phillips contacted me about renting our field to them to use,” Triton Athletic Director Mason McIntyre explained to the Triton School Board this week. “I think it will be a good opportunity for Triton with the cost of fuel going up, to offset some costs for traveling.”
The team would be using the field, scoreboards, bleachers, parking lot, lights, P.A. system, chains, restrooms and field equipment Saturdays, July 26, Sept. 6 and 27 and Oct. 4, using a kick-off time of 7 p.m. and an estimated time of completion of 10 p.m.
McIntyre said the rental would not pose a problem to the high school teams because their games are on Fridays and practice isn’t normally scheduled for Saturday evenings.
McIntyre also explained that the semi-pro team from Koscuisko County would provide its own security and insurance and said the high school would be selling concessions for the games. He said those proceeds, plus the $500 per game rental fee for the use of the school’s equipment and field, would help the school’s athletic fund tremendously.
The school board agreed.
KC Mustangs General Manager Sid Phillips, of Atwood, said he is excited about the agreement and is eager to sign the contract.
“We have 10 teams in the league and we’ve won two of the four championships,” he explained. “We have players from all around the area: Triton, Warsaw, Rochester, Tippecanoe, Whitko, North-Wood and Goshen.”
He said that the team had been playing home games at Lakeview Middle School but he chose to seek a high school field, as their opponents, the Shamrocks (of the Elkhart area) use Jimtown’s fields.
As it is now, the team practices at Harrison Elementary School in Warsaw on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m. and Saturdays 9 a.m. to noon. “Our first game of the year is in Dayton, Ohio July 19,” Phillips said. “Our first home game is July 26. We want to make this arrangement very friendly and like the idea of playing in a small town because most of our players are from small towns.”
He said he hoped to have a tailgate-type, cookout to invite the town to prior to the first home game, to introduce themselves to the community and possibly hold a Nelson’s Port-A-Pit chicken sale, with proceeds split between the semi-pro team and the school. Fees to attend the games are $5 per adults; $3 for children ages 13 to 18 and children 12 and under are free.
For more information about the KC Mustangs or the Interstate Football League, go online to
www.kcmustangsfootball.com .
