(Pavillion, Wyo.) – The Wind River Cougars home football games this fall will not be played at the school’s LeRoy Sinner Field in Pavillion. Instead, the Cougars “home games” will be 18 miles away at Wyoming Indian High School’s Chiefs Intertribal Stadium at Ethete.
Wind River Schools Superintendent Diana Clapp explained why in an email to County10.com. “Last spring the district decided to move forward with re-crowning and replanting our football field. We knew that to get a good growth we would not be able to practice or play on the field this year. Our AD, James Cunningham, contacted Wyoming Indian High School who agreed to let us play our home football games on their field for the 2018 season,” she wrote.
Unfortunately, Clapp said the district also has had to deal with substantial damage to the field created when a fire truck crossed the newly seeded and wet soil to reach a fire on an adjacent property. “Yes, we had an incident with a fire on a neighboring property and a fire truck crossed our newly crowned and planted football field. The damage included deep ruts across the field. We lost the new growth from the hydro-seeding because the ground needed to be dried out to repair the damage. As of today, the dirt work repairing the ruts is complete and the field has a new coating of hydro-seed,” she reported in the email.
The fire truck also drove over the field’s newly resurfaced running track in several locations. Damage, if any, to the running track is unknown and may not be immediately visible.
Fremont County Fire Protection District Chief Craig Haslam acknowledged that a district fire truck did, indeed, drive on the field and damage it. “We’re working with the school to make it right,” he told County10.com, indicating the fire district would cover the cost of the repair. “The driver did not realize the field was wet and that it had just been planted,” Haslam said. He said a grass fire was spreading onto the school property and the most direct route was across the field. “Unfortunately, fires don’t always occur in convenient locations,” Haslam said. He also said no disciplinary action would be taken against the driver.
