School Wants Night Football, Needs Final Light Tower Fixed Before Season

Saturday afternoon football games aren’t what Whitehall coach Tony Trisciani wants.

But if the plan to fix a broken light tower at Zephyr Stadium isn’t repaired in time, that’s what they’ll have.

“My understanding is that it will be replaced in time,” Trisciani said.

The fallen light tower is the left-most of the three on the visitor’s side of Zephyr Stadium.

Whitehall athletic director Bob Hartman said it wouldn’t be possible to host a night football game without all six light towers working.

But according to Gary Behr, Whitehall’s director of operations, the Zephyrs’ home games should remain on Friday nights in 2011.

“Everything is through the insurance company and the contractor we’ve hired has everything on order,” Behr said. “The tower is expected to be here in July. We will erect it, put the lights on it.

“At this point, there are no issues. We will be ready to go.”

A winter storm over the Christmas holiday break last December, a storm that featured winds in the 60-mile-per-hour range, knocked the light tower over.

Fortunately, the tower fell south — or away from the bleachers. The only other damage came to part of the fence behind the visitor’s bleachers.

“We were lucky,” said Behr, who added that the replacement tower comes at no cost to the district.

Behr believes that the light towers were installed in the mid-1970s and the lights replaced in the mid-1990s.

He also said that the remaining five light towers were inspected earlier this year by engineers, who recommended that strengthening systems be installed. A contractor already has done the work on those towers, Behr said.

Now all that needs to be done is work on the fallen tower.

“There’s no reason to believe things won’t be done on time,” Behr said. “It should be done well before the season. It should only take a couple of days to install the tower.”

If the light tower can’t be replaced in time, it is likely that Whitehall would be forced to play Saturday afternoon home games. Whitehall would be the only school in the Lehigh Valley Conference without functioning lights.

Pen Argyl and Wilson are the only two Colonial League schools without lights, and thus, play Saturday afternoon home games.

All of the Mountain Valley Conference schools have lights.

Whitehall is coming off of a 10-3 season in 2010, 7-2 in the LVC. Trisciani’s club beat Wyoming Valley West and Nazareth to advance to the Districts 11-2 Class 4A subregional final, before losing to Easton 13-10.

Fall practice begins Monday, Aug. 15.

Whitehall’s 2011 home opener is Friday, Sept. 2, against Blue Mountain.