What once was old is new again.
The Mount Vernon Mustangs football team is once again making their home at the field behind First Street Community Center.
Originally the main football field dating back to the early days of Mount Vernon schools, the First Street Community Center field has been revamped for the team’s new season.
In recent years, the team have still played at least one game there, Mustangs head coach Lance Pedersen said, but had been spending the majority of their home games at the Cornell field.
This year, construction at the Small Multi Sport Center has made parking at Ash Park challenging.
The First Street Community Field in Mount Vernon has a long history, built by the WPA. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were raised in the 2010s to rebuild the bleachers and press box.
When Mustangs head coach Lance Pedersen took over the school’s football program, “the field had deteriorated to a point where it wasn’t quite to where I wanted it to be,” he said.
This led to the numerous contests at Cornell, while work was done behind the scenes on the team’s original field.
“The school has made an amazing commitment, and the field is looking great, and we’re really excited,” said Pedersen.
“Our custodians Chris Noll and Marty Williams have done an amazing job over the last couple of years trying to fix our field up, and they did a really nice job. And now it’s hired out, and this guy can really just specialize on that,” Pedersen said.
Hired hand Alex Krafka has taken the lead on the maintenance of the field, and, as Pedersen tells it, his work has been “amazing.”
“We’re excited to be back at First Street,” the coach said.
“They have done a fantastic job of keeping that field up,” agreed Mount Vernon Schools athletic director Matt Thede.
“Our challenge has been the lack of our ability to purchase a ‘reel mower’ that could cut the grass as short as we need it to be,” Thede said.
That specific length, indicated Thede, is 1.25 inches long.
“So, we hired Alex Krafka and he has built upon what Chris and Marty have done and is able to mow it short enough as well,” said Thede.
“The field is in great shape, and we’re excited to play down there this fall,” Thede said.
Mount Vernon football to compete at First Street
Trent Bowman
August 26, 2021