High School Opens $19 Million Stadium, Finally Has Home Football Games

Unfortunately, the junior varsity squad lost to Bloomington.

After the game, local dignitaries gathered on the field for a ceremony marking the grand opening of the Banning High School athletic complex. In addition to the stadium, the complex includes a swimming pool, baseball and softball fields and outdoor basketball courts. The stadium is designed for football, soccer and track and field.

“It’s a great day to be a Bronco,” Athletic Director Scott McRitchie said.

The athletic complex cost $19 million to build, with funding coming from Measure R. Voters passed the district’s $63 million bond measure in 2006.

“Thank you citizens of Banning for supporting Measure R and making sure we have these beautiful facilities,” Superintendent Lynne Kennedy said.

The stadium is equipped with digital scoreboards, outdoor lighting for night games, concession stands, a press box and bleachers for cheering fans. The field is artificial turf, which varsity football players Thong Yang, 17, and Michael Coglietti, 16, said has a tendency to get hot. It’s cooled off with sprinklers.

Banning High did not have a stadium before this one was built and so home games were played at the middle school, which used to be the high school. The football players have been practicing on the new field.

“It’s an upgrade — no potholes,” Michael said.

“Last year we’d be playing in puddles of mud,” Thong said.

The new outdoor swimming pool is 12 lanes and meets CIF regulations. It, too, has overhead lighting, as well as restrooms, on-deck showers, a coach’s office and storage room.

Senior Bryant Tran, 17, said in the past the Banning High swim team had to use the pool at Beaumont High School.

Bryant, who was at the athletic complex taking sign-ups for a booster club, said he thinks more students might join the school’s swim team now that it has it own pool. It’s always been a small team, he said.

School board President Deborah Dukes, a 1973 Banning High graduate, said she hopes that with these facilities, Banning will return to its glory days as a sports powerhouse.

Banning High’s varsity football team plays Bloomington tonight. It’s a home game.

“I’m excited about the game, the new field,” Thong said.