Fans of Kingwood Christian and Thompson High football will notice dramatic changes in facilities this fall as both programs have experienced upgrades.

At Thompson, new restroom facilities are being built at James L. Simmons Field. The Shelby County Commission also recently handed out its annual park and recreation grants, giving $50,000 to complete work on the athletic field house at Thompson High for the Thompson Quarterback Club.

At Kingwood Field, there will be a noticeable difference as a new field house has been built for Lions.

Although the field house exterior is up, more work must done inside, meaning it will not be fully functional until next fall.

The field house is set to include visitor and home team locker rooms, a storage room for football equipment, an officials room, restrooms complete with showers, coaches offices and an open space for meetings or walk-throughs. The building may also be used as an indoor hitting facility for baseball and softball.

The project has been in the works for years, with the money being raised through fundraisers.

“It’s a huge thing for our school and our athletic program,” Kingwood head coach Jerry Stearns said. “We’ve been working on this project for five to seven years now.”

As the building is finished in phases, Stearns said he hopes his team, and the visiting teams, will be able to use the facility in a limited manner.

“We’re doing some things so that, hopefully, we can temporarily use some of (the facility) this season,” Stearns said.