Patterson Irrigator

 Miles Farland and Billy Moore lay hash marks Monday on the new artificial-turf field at Patterson Community Stadium. Work will continue over the course of this week as crews finish securing the surface.  The field is scheduled to be done by Sept. 1.

Crews began laying the carpet-like material Saturday and had covered about 75 percent of the field by Monday afternoon, FieldTurf employee Miles Farland said.

Elias Funez / Patterson Irrigator

Still, the late start hasn’t shaken Patterson High football coach Rob Cozart’s confidence.

“These guys know what they’re doing,” Cozart said. “They’re the professionals, the experts. The crew feels like they’ve got enough time to do it. It should be no problem.”

Crews spent part of Monday trimming down the 2½-inch artificial grass fibers with shears and cutting out inlay designs for yard lines and hash marks from one goal line to the other.

Elias Funez / Patterson Irrigator

He estimated it would take five days to lay out the field and glue in the hash marks, yard-line markers and lines used for soccer, such as goalie and penalty boxes. It should take about three days to sew the field, while infilling sand and rubber across the field takes three to four days — a total project time of two weeks.

Included in that two-week time frame is a day devoted to fine-tuning and cleaning the field.
Farland said the sooner the task is complete, the better.

“We’re really going to try to push it (forward),” he said. “They really want to accelerate that deadline for the field.”

Elias Funez / Patterson Irrigator

“The crew is trying to speed things up,” he said. “They may start working under the lights. They’re worried about missing the Sept. 1 deadline.”

To simulate mowing patterns, the field has alternating five-yard sections of lighter and darker green turf. Rob Cozart said the colors create a much more visually appealing field.

“It makes it look like it’s been freshly mowed and painted,” Cozart said. “It kind of keeps that feel. It was done at no extra cost. It was kind of an aesthetic thing that was pleasing to the eye. It’s only within football boundaries, and not all over the place.”

The center logo — a capital P, Patterson High’s ubiquitous symbol — is among the most imposing Farland has seen in his five years of installing artificial turf. He typically sees logos no bigger than about 15 yards wide.

“It’s 20 yards across the logo,” said Farland, who has installed about 100 fields to date. “That’s the biggest logo I’ve seen. It’s going to look good.”

Rob Cozart said the logo’s size stemmed from a desire to incorporate the dimensions of the soccer field’s center circle, where games begin.

“When I stand up in the bleachers, the logo stands out,” Cozart said. “It’s nice to see. At least we were able to do something to the center of the field to make it pretty profound.”

Farland said Patterson’s enthusiasm and the anticipation preceding the FieldTurf installation sets the city apart from his large city clients.

“What’s definitely different is the community pride,” Farland said. “The inland (valley) cities are really into it. It seems like the whole town is aware that we’re here. It’s definitely fun to come to a smaller city and feel appreciated.”

To reach Mike Vanden Bosch at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or e-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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