Long road trip and difficult opponent aside, there’s something visiting teams dread even more upon entering Oak Harbor’s 58-year-old Memorial Stadium — the complex itself.

“The facilities at Oak Harbor are as abysmal as any 4A high school in the state, at least as bad as any I’ve seen,” Monroe head football coach Steve Hannan said. “Actually I haven’t seen worse at any 2A high schools.” The largest schools in the state are designated 4A for competitive purposes.

Hannan’s sentiments aren’t isolated, they spread up and down the Western Conference North.

“The condition of the field is kind of unbelievable,” Arlington football coach John Boitano said. “You do feel like you’re kind of a second-class citizen, not the way you’re treated, but everything else you go through.”

Boitano, whose undefeated Eagles visit Oak Harbor Friday, Oct. 21, said it’s not just the uneven and often soggy field, but the undersized locker rooms that make the experience miserable.

“It’s like getting dropped in a portable,” he said.

To top frustrations off, both teams must share a sidline. Under normal circumstances teams would be on opposite sides of the field, but when the bleachers were condemned and demolished in the middle of the 2003 season, teams were all moved to one side to improve visibility for home fans sitting on temporary bleachers.

Also affected are assistant coaches. They normally sit in a press box and call plays down to the field, but are now forced to sit on 20-foot platforms directly behind their benches.

Hannan said the coaches’ situation in itself is bad, but on the Bearcats’ recent trip to Oak Harbor problems extended beyond the obvious.

“We needed to plug in our headsets and there was no electricity available,” he said. “The Oak Harbor coaches ended up having to give us one of theirs. It was an embarrassing situation for all of us.”

Hard-pressed to find anyone with positive feedback about Memorial Stadium, Snohomish head football coach Mark Perry did pay the facility a compliment.

“The grounds crew at Memorial Stadium has always done a fantasic job in preparing the playing surface,” he said. “It’s the stands and the coaches’ boxes that are far below the standards that should be met by all 4A programs.”

CHANGING TIMES

Although critical of Oak Harbor’s facilities, aging stadiums aren’t a new subject for Hannan or Boitano.

Both come from school districts and communities which battled long and hard for new sports complexes and recently got them.

Arlington opened its new facility, John C. Larson Stadium, in 2003, as part of a $44 million project that included an entirely new high school.

The stadium holds 2,500 people and has covered aluminum bleachers on both sides. There is also a track that surrounds a natural grass playing surface for football, soccer and track and field events.

“The old field was really nostalgic, but in very poor condition,” Boitano said. “The stadium was kind of like the one in Oak Harbor.

The new one puts us on another level, it’s state of the art — it looks almost like a college stadium, not a high school stadium.”

Monroe’s new sports complex just opened up two weeks ago and according to Hannan has already made a huge difference.

“The new facility has meant everything to our kids,” he said. “It shows the kids that people in our community think that their success is important, the kids feel like they are supported by our community.”

The $3.4 million stadium has 2,000 covered seats on the home side and 1,000 on the visitors side. The surface is field turf, an artificial material that resembles grass and is also the surface that is proposed for a new Oak Harbor stadium.

HOW OH STACKS UP

Of the nine teams in the WesCo North four, Snohomish, Mount Vernon, Lake Stevens and Monroe, have converted to field turf. Cascade High School uses Everett Memorial Stadium, which is as old as Oak Harbor’s stadium, but has seen numerous upgrades over the years including a new Astroturf surface as recently as 1997.

Arlington and Stanwood high schools both have grass surfaces, but according to Northwest District 1 secretary Kim Wilson exceptional stands and other facilities could still allow them to host a first-round playoff game.

That leaves Oak Harbor and Marysville-Pilchuck as the only two schools in the WesCo North to be ruled out of hosting a state soccer of football playoff game.

The problem has come about for the Wildcat football team on two occasions over the past three years and has the potential to arise again this season. In 2002 Oak Harbor earned a first-round state playoff game against Mountain View of Vancouver, but had to travel to Everett’s Goddard Stadium for a home game. In 2003 Oak Harbor earned a district game against Mariner and first-round state playoff game against Ballard. Both were supposed to be played at home, but were moved to Mount Vernon’s new stadium because Oak Harbor’s facilities were ruled unsuitable.

Wilson, who is on the committee that decides what area sites are acceptable for the first round and quarterfinals state playoffs, said there are a number of things looked at when deciding if a facility can host a playoff game. Oak Harbor was only marginally suitable for one — its concession stand.

According to Wilson, quality of the field, stands, locker rooms, press box and parking were all unacceptable.

Oak Harbor’s proposed $6.5 million bond would pay for a 2,500-seat covered stadium with a field-turf surface surrounded by a track. It would also cover renovations to the tennis courts and baseball fields.

“Oak Harbor is always very competitive, they really deserve something better,” Wilson said.