When the Sports Plus High School Football Jamboree is held Friday at the Ballpark at Jackson, Eric Taylor realizes there will be more than three outfielders on the playing surface.
Taylor (pictured) is the head groundskeeper for the Jackson Generals, who make their home at the venue where the jamboree will be played for the first time since 2012.
“There will be 10 high schools from the Jackson area, and we’re transforming the field from a professional baseball field to a high school football field, but we still have a professional expectation level.”
Taylor, who was an assistant groundskeeper with the Birmingham Barons – the Southern League’s Double A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox – is in his first year with the Generals – the Southern League’s Double A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The playing field for the jamboree runs from the third base line in the outfield to the warning track near the right center field wall and consist of 80 yards instead of the standard 100 yards.
But prepping fields for high school football games is nothing new to Taylor.
“In Birmingham, I would paint six football fields every week,” Taylor said. “It took us close to four hours total (here), and we used a lot of paint. We started Monday laying out the field, and Tuesday we did all the painting.
“We mixed fertilizer with the paint to help the lines grow so we can mow the paint off after the games Friday.”
Taylor said there is other work to do before he and his crew start mowing.
“We’ll use a sweeper … vacuum and do a verticut (vertical mowing) to relieve old matter,” Taylor said. “We’ll use sand to fill in the large divots.”
Jamboree schedule at the Ballpark at Jackson – gates open at 5:30 p.m., first game, 6:30 p.m.
Dan Reaves, Sea Bass and Richard Barber have the play-by-play on 101.5 FM and the jamboree will be livestreamed on wnws.com
Dyer County vs. North Side
Greenfield vs. Jackson Christian
Gibson County vs. Humboldt
University School of Jackson vs. Liberty
Trinity Christian Academy vs. South Side
David Thomas, Twitter– @DavidThomasWNWS
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