Arizona Cardinals donate goalpost to school with vandalized field
Oct 9, 2014, 6:42 PM | Updated: 6:52 pm
The Arizona Cardinals may be focused on playing at a professional level, but they can still give some assistance on the high school level too.
The Cardinals donated a goalpost to the Barry Goldwater High School football team after the school’s field was vandalized earlier in the week.
The high school’s football field was destroyed on Sunday after a man in a stolen truck drove through the field, ruining both goal posts in the process. With little time before the team’s next game on Thursday, the school district reached out to the Cardinals, and the team donated a portable goalpost that will allow the Bulldogs to play their game on time.
“I just think it’s fantastic,” said Brian Jacobs, assistant principal for Goldwater High School. “Everything that has been going on with the NFL recently and all the negativity, it is just so wonderful to have a feel good story where they are just so generous and allowing us, and allowing the kids, to play a game on the scheduled night.”
The assistant principal said the school had to go through the Arizona Interscholastic Association to make sure that one goalpost was enough for a game, but the AIA ruled they could use it, and all field goals and extra points would be kicked at one end of the field.
Jacobs praised the Cardinals and the lesson this taught the community and kids about fighting through difficult situations.
“There’s things that happen to all of us in life that, through no fault of our own, bad things happen,” said Jacobs. “But what are you going to do? Are you going to quit? Or are you going to persevere and find a way to make it happen? And that’s what happened on our campus with a lot of people.”
The goalpost was not the only area that needed a quick fix, as the field was thoroughly thrashed after the driver did donuts on the grass.
“Our maintenance people did a great job getting this field ready to play,” said Jacobs. The assistant principal added that the school’s maintenance staff has been putting in work all week to get the field ready on time, and they were able to fix all of the ruts on the grass to make it playable.
The game is set to start on time Thursday at 7 p.m., when the Bulldogs host the Sunrise Mountain High School Mustangs.
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