Austintown, state save two football leagues

By Elise Franco

Lack of funding almost forced the township’s two football groups to disband.

AUSTINTOWN — The Austintown Colts and Little Falcons, two youth football leagues that faced an uncertain future, are getting a new home.

The township has acquired six acres on Kirk Road and plans to turn it into two football fields for the youth leagues, said Trustee Lisa Oles.

Oles said the property is adjacent to the township parks, and the acquisition was necessary to keep the Colts and Falcons together.

She said both leagues approached the trustees and asked for help in finding a new place to play after they were forced to leave the former Austintown Middle School, where they played for nearly 30 years.

Oles explained the leagues were displaced from their playing field at the vacant school property on Mahoning Avenue “due to insurance and safety issues.”

She said the acquisition cost the township $75,000.

“It was decided that the township and these two football organizations would work together to improve the property to make it playable,” Oles said. “The township purchased [the property] through a capital improvement grant that is 100 percent reimbursable.”

Trustee Dave Ditzler said the grant was secured with the help of state Rep. Ron Gerberry of Austintown, D-59th.

“That really kind of opened the door because the grant money was available when we didn’t really have the money in the park funds to purchase” the land, he said.

Oles said the township and the two leagues are splitting the cost to build the new fields. Engineering costs total about $13,000, but Oles said that doesn’t include labor.

Ditzler said trustees and the parks department have worked many years to find a new place for the two leagues to play.

“Since they were constructing the new middle school the leagues knew all along they’d have to vacate the premises. It was a pretty big task,” he said. “We’ve been looking for land that had parking and didn’t have a lot of homes around it.”

Oles said two new fields and a parking lot will be constructed on the property, but the township doesn’t plan to build a concessions area

“Any concessions would have to come through the Falcons or Colts,” she said. “At this point, the parks department simply doesn’t have the funding for it.”

Rick Thomas, president of the Little Falcons, said the leagues lost significant funding when they were removed from the middle school in 2007. He said the league has lost money on two major fronts: concession stands and sponsorships.

“During these economic times it’s hard for us to get sponsors from businesses. ... Because that is down, we asked the township for help so we could have our own field and concessions,” he said. “We bring in 90 percent of our money through concessions, but we can’t have one at Lloyd Elementary, where we play now.”

Thomas said without the new fields both the Falcons and the Colts organizations would have to disband. Kids between the ages of 6 and 13 are eligible to play.

“These two organizations would end up folding because of the expenses that go along with using the facilities. It’s pretty costly,” he said. “We bring in, between the two leagues, about 500 kids each year, so you’re looking at all those kids being put on the street.”

Ditzler said keeping these leagues active in the township is important to not only the kids but to Austintown’s football program.

“If you look back, I think they’ve been here for 40 years,” he said. “Really they were kind of like the seed that fed the entire football system in Austintown.”

Thomas said the new fields will also allow teams from other leagues to play in Austintown.

“It gives us the opportunity to invite other teams over to scrimmage us,” he said. “Currently, we have to go on the road for every game.”

Oles said because the township doesn’t have to ask for bids on projects under $25,000, construction should begin soon.

“I anticipate they’re going to be starting very soon so we can have it ready by [the 2010] season,” she said.

efranco@vindy.com