Bowie Coach: Vandalism at stadium another obstacle for players to overcome

As the work continues to repair the damage that was done at Bowie High School’s football stadium, the Bowie football team must now pick themselves up and play on, with or without their home stadium.

Bowie’s football field was damaged a week ago after authorities say four teenagers caused more than $150,000 in damage.

The teens, who are facing charges, allegedly drove a golf cart on the field damaging the field’s turf and the school’s new track which had just recently been installed.

Bowie’s head football coach Robert Padilla says the damage is not as bad as it looks, but crews still have work that needs to be done and it will take some time.

“I thought that they would have to do a lot more work than what they did, which is good, but at the same time it’s still work and it’s still things that have to be fixed,” Padilla said.

Padilla says his team has been handling the ordeal in stride.

“It is disheartening, but at the same time it’s just another obstacle that our kids have to face and overcome,” Padilla said. “That’s one of the things that our Bowie kids are adept at doing is that anything that comes up as an obstacle, we fight hard and we make sure that we try and overcome it to the best of our ability.”

Last Friday should have been Bowie’s first home game against Silver City High School, a school in New Mexico. Instead, the Bowie Bears had to travel to Silver City, New Mexico to play the Fightling Colts at their home stadium.

The plan is to take it week by week because there is no set timetable on when the repairs to the stadium will be completed.

Bowie’s next home game is scheduled for September 14th against Clint. Their stadium won’t be ready by then, so the plan is to play that game at El Paso High School.

“You know we appreciate everybody looking out for us a little bit even our rivals in the time of need,” Padilla said. “We’re thankful we can count on them as well.”

Also, since Bowie’s stadium field is inaccessible, all teams at Bowie have to share a practice field that is near the baseball stadium.

“That’s the beauty of Bowie High School is we’re all going to work together and we’re all going to try to overcome things like this, but the reality is that’s where we’re at,” “Padilla said.

Padilla is hopeful that the stadium will be ready in time for Bowie’s homecoming game which is on October 12th.