By GUY VOGRIN

and LIAM BOUQUET

Tribune Chronicle

WARREN – The old turf is gone from Mollenkopf Stadium and on Monday, crews began laying a new Vegas gold hue in the north end zone.

Warren School Board member Patricia Limperos stopped by stadium on Elm Road to inspect the turf.

“I am real excited,” Limperos said as she felt the texture of the fake bright green grass installed beyond the white end line.

Michael Wasser, executive director for business operations in the district, said the new turf cost $318,000 and will be paid for out of the district’s capital improvement fund.

“It will be installed by the same company that did the first turf in 2005, ProGrass out of Pittsburgh,” Wasser said. “The new turf is expected to have a shelf life of 10 to 13 years.

Pro Grass workers are laying the turf in squares and weather permitting, Wasser said, the job could take from 18 to 20 days.

“This will be a blended grass, with 10-yard light green increments with the darker color,” Wasser said.

The old turf was installed in 2005 and Mollenkopf was able to host state football playoff games in the inclement weather of late November.

“The installers remarked about how good a shape it was in. The old turf lasted 11 years and we were only supposed to get seven out of it. That’s because of the outstanding work of our ground crew which really took good care of it,” Wasser said.

Steve Chiaro, superintendent of Warren City Schools, said fans will be excited to see the new turf during the first home game in August.

“This was a real simple decision. Everyone was in agreement. Warren Harding led the area as being one of the first turf fields in the tri-county area,” he said. “We spent a lot of time in the design stages, getting a good product that has the highest warranty we were able to find, over 10 years.”

Limperos said the Harding student body picked the new lettering for the end zones, “Warren” in the north end zone and “Harding” in the south. Chiaro said students voted overwhelmingly for the Raider mascot at middlefield. No word was given on a color scheme.

“Fans will find out when they come to the first game,” Wasser said

gvogrin@tribtoday.com