St. Edward hoping to play at home Friday

Consider it a second homecoming.

St. Edward hopes to play its regular-season finale against Elmwood Park on its home field this Friday, which would mark the Green Wave's first game in Elgin since Week 2.

The problem began when a maintenance crew mistakenly treated Greg True Field with weed killer instead of fertilizer in the week between St. Edward's season-opening win over Aurora Central Catholic on Aug. 28 and its Week 2 win against Chicago Clark on Sept. 4.

The Green Wave hosted Clark on the dying field, but it was deemed unplayable thereafter.

Overhead footage of the browning sod turned the lawn care accident into a nationwide topic of conversation. Video of the field showed up on broadcasts ranging from local news to ESPN's College Game Day to national late-night talk shows.

Meanwhile, the situation forced the football team to take an extended road trip. Its Sept. 18 home game against IC Catholic Prep was moved to Elmhurst, its Sept. 25 home game against Guerin was moved to Geneva High School and its homecoming game against Walther Christian was moved to Huskie Stadium at Northern Illinois University.

The contractor responsible for the mistake initially tried to fix the field by overseeding it, but those efforts were scrapped when a corporate donor, who has asked not to be identified for the time being, stepped in and donated new sod, according to St. Edward coach Mike Rolando.

Thanks to this corporate donor, Greg True Field was stripped of the dying grass two weeks ago, laser leveled, regraded and completely resodded.

The football team tested the surface by practicing on it Monday night. The cheerleaders took their turn on the new grass, too.

"It looks fantastic," Rolando said Tuesday. "We had to make sure the sod had taken. Practice went great. There was no slippage or anything. It's just a beautiful field done right. It's probably the best Greg True Field has ever looked.

"To be at home on Senior Night is going to be great. And it'll be big for our student section to have a home game and be able to cheer on their team. Basically, it'll just be nice to be home."

As for the $15,000 raised by 199 private donors on a GoFundMe page to help pay for new sod, the funds will be use to "accentuate the work being done by the corporate donor," Rolando said.

St. Edward athletic director P.J. White was not immediately available for comment.