Urlacher to appear at St. Edward Friday
An appearance by former Chicago Bears All-Pro linebacker Brian Urlacher will highlight a Friday of festivities at St. Edward High School, but the real main attraction will be the Green Wave's football team finally getting to play at Greg True Field again - hopefully.
Scotts, one of the leading lawn care companies in the country, is coordinating an afternoon tailgate party at the school on Friday that will begin at 3 p.m. and include an appearance by Urlacher as well as a pregame celebration for students, families and fans that will include food, music and games.
Scotts has donated the sod and labor to refurbish Greg True Field after a mix up in late August in which the company taking care of the field applied weed killer instead of fertilizer, thus killing all the grass. St. Edward played its Week 2 game against Chicago Clark at home but has not been able to play on the field since. Friday's game against Elmwood Park is the regular-season finale. The sophomore game is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. and the varsity game at 7 p.m. St. Edward comes into the game with a 5-3 record and can secure a playoff berth with a win.
"Scotts saw it on the news and called us with an offer to put our field back to better than new condition and to help save our football season and get at least one last home game for our seniors," said St. Edward athletic director PJ White on Wednesday.
"It's a stroke of luck for us that a company of Scotts caliber would come to us with this offer."
Scotts is also promoting the event through social media. Fans can tweet @scottslawncare and use the hashtag #keepitreal for a chance to win prizes.
One glitch in the plan could come by way of bad weather, and there is a chance of rain in the forecast Friday afternoon and evening. White said that while plans are moving forward to play at Greg True Field, the school also won't take the chance of ruining the new sod if it rains too much.
"We have to have a plan in place just in case, and if that would happen we'll move the games to Geneva," he said, adding that the Urlacher appearance will likely still take place but where and when is still to be determined.
St. Edward played its Sept. 25 game against Guerin at Geneva's Burgess Field.