Football games back on GOHS campus
Glen Oaks High won’t have an all-new football facility like Live Oak High.
However, the 2012 Panthers will get to do something new — play a home game on their campus.
“Being able to play games here at school is one of the things that made me want to come back,” GOHS football coach Vernon Langley said. “I grew up across the street from the school, and I’ll make 40 this year and I don’t remember Glen Oaks ever playing here.
“And I haven’t talked to anyone else who remembers a game here, either. The alumni, like me, are excited about it. And I’m sure the school will be, too. It’s a point of pride.”
Glen Oaks is scheduled to host Capitol High in its home opener on Sept. 14. The Class 3A Panthers have long played their home games at one of two BREC-operated public stadiums, Olympia and Memorial.
In recent years, the East Baton Rouge Parish School System has refurbished many of its older facilities. Much of the work initially involved gymnasiums. Broadmoor High had its football stadium reworked in 2011.
Plans to renovate Glen Oaks’ stadium also began last year. Old bleachers were torn out of the stadium structure that included the locker room Panthers football players have used all along.
Wooden bleachers on the visitors side of the field have also been replaced with aluminum bleachers. Handicap ramps and seating have been installed, along with a new press box and new fence. The building also got a fresh coat of black, red and white paint to match school colors.
Some work remains. A new scoreboard has to be installed along with 30-second clocks in each end zone.
Langley, a former GOHS player who graduated in 1991, took over for a second stint as the school’s head coach Thursday. He spent part of Friday sorting through equipment in the locker room, but also took time to walk through the stadium.
“This (stadium) has always been here, it just hasn’t been used, other than for ninth-grade and JV games,” Langley said.
“It will be so nice to be able to have our games here. Hopefully, it will encourage more people from the community to attend.”