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WILKES-BARRE — For at least the first two weeks of the high school football season, Wilkes-Barre Area School District’s Memorial Stadium will be closed, disrupting the schedules of several local teams.

Four area high schools call the stadium home, including the three Wilkes-Barre Area schools — GAR, Coughlin and Meyers. The fourth team that uses the stadium is Holy Redeemer.

Coughlin’s home opener Friday, Aug. 25, versus Dallas will now be switched to a road game at Dallas, the superintendent reported.

And according to Meyers’ coach Jeff Labatch, his team’s opener at the stadium set for Saturday, Aug. 26, against Lake-Lehman has been moved to Aug. 25 at Lehman.

Labatch noted his team has an alternate way of entering the stadium, allowing practices to continue there. Meyers is the only district school that uses the field for practice.

“We just have to adapt and keep going,” Labatch said.

Coughlin coach Ciro Cinti had a similar message.

“If we had more home games, it’d be great, but circumstances are what they are,” he said.

GAR does not have a home game scheduled during the first two weeks of the season.

But Holy Redeemer’s first two games are scheduled to be at home, and it was not immediately clear where the Royals would now play those games. A tweet from the Royals’ official Twitter account Thursday said that updates to the schedule would be forthcoming.

The decision to temporarily close the stadium came after months of reports about deteriorating conditions.

Wilkes-Barre Area Superintendent Brian Costello said in a press release that district and city officials inspected the stadium Wednesday.

After the inspection, two firms recommended closing an elevated walkway and locker room tunnel to the stadium.

Thomas Leonard, president of TGL Engineering Inc., cited a variety of structural issues with the stadium in his report. Those problems include:

• Continuing deterioration of the pedestrian walkway.

• Steel corrosion and loose bricks above the field entrance door from the locker room tunnel.

• Deterioration of a steel beam and loose concrete on the underside of the second floor of the stadium, affecting the equipment room adjacent to the home locker room.

Leonard recommended immediate closure of the walkway and locker room tunnel.

As for the equipment room, the firm suggested access by maintenance workers be limited to an “as-needed basis with protective headgear/eyewear required.”

According to Costello, the locker room tunnel will be reopened after necessary modifications are completed, namely a protective wooden shed within the tunnel, as suggested by Leonard.

Meanwhile, the elevated walkway will remain closed until further notice, Costello said.

He is expecting the stadium to reopen by the third week of the football season, or by Sept. 8.

This file photo from Sept. 27, 2016, shows some of the deterioration that was visible at the stadium during last year’s football season.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_web1_TUNNELrotated-1-1.jpg.optimal.jpgThis file photo from Sept. 27, 2016, shows some of the deterioration that was visible at the stadium during last year’s football season. Submitted photo

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_coughlinpittston01CMYK-1.jpg.optimal.jpgSubmitted photo

Labatch
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_MEY-Labatch.jpg.optimal.jpgLabatch Submitted photo

Cinti
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_Coughlin-CoachCinti.jpg.optimal.jpgCinti Submitted photo

By Patrick Kernan

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Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6119 or on Twitter @PatKernan