Move to turf saves Metro schedule

Published 1:21 pm Thursday, March 26, 2009

A decision Tuesday to move all Metro Tournament soccer games to turf fields proved to be a good one Wednesday, as rain covered the Birmingham Metro Area most of the day.

“There is no way we would have played at all yesterday without the turf fields,” said Mountain Brook head coach Joe Webb.

The move allowed for all but two games to be played Wednesday. Hoover City Schools made a decision to postpone the late games at Hoover High and Spain Park High after looking at the forecast.

Webb said he and Spain Park coach Joe Carter made the decision to on Tuesday to move the location of games.

“The rain wouldn’t hurt the turf, and we didn’t want to tear up the grass fields with over a month left in the season,” Webb said.

Wednesday’s games between Oak Mountain vs. Spain Park and Briarwood vs. Indian Springs have been rescheduled for Saturday morning.

Webb is hoping the turf will help them from needing to make any other changes as rain remains in the forecast for the remainder of the week.

“We are crossing our fingers that there won’t be any further complications with the schedule,” Webb said. “The Metro tournament has been around since the late 1970s, and is a big deal for the teams in this area.”

Results from Wednesday and an updated schedule are below:

Wednesday, March 25

At Hoover

Hoover 8, Thompson 0

Briarwood vs. Indian Springs (rescheduled)

At Vestavia

Chelsea 10, Erwin 0

John Carroll 3, Vestavia Hills 0

At Spain Park

Homewood 2, Altamont 2

Oak Mtn. vs. Spain Park (rescheduled)

At Pelham

Mtn. Brook 3, Pelham 1

Gardendale 1, Pinson Valley 1

At Mtn. Brook

Clay-Chalkville 4, Ramsey 0

Hewitt-Trussville 5, Pleasant Grove 0

Thursday, March 26

At Hoover

6:30 p.m. – Hoover vs. Indian Springs

At Vestavia

5 p.m. – Pleasant Grove vs. Chelsea

6:30 p.m. – Hewitt-Trussville vs. Erwin

8 p.m. – Vestavia vs. Homewood

At Spain Park

5 p.m. – Gardendale vs. Ramsey

6:30 p.m. – Pinson Valley vs. Clay-Chalkville

8 p.m. – Spain Park vs. Pelham

At Pelham

5 p.m. – John Carroll vs. Altamont

6:30 p.m. Oak Mtn. vs. Mtn. Brook

8 p.m. – Thompson vs. Briarwood

Friday, March 27

At Hoover

5 p.m. – Hoover vs. Briarwood

7 p.m. – Chelsea v Hewitt

At Vestavia

5 p.m. – Pleasant Grove vs. Erwin

7 p.m. Vestavia vs. Altamont

At Spain Park

5 p.m. – Clay-Chalkville vs. Gardendale

7 p.m. – Indian Springs vs. Thompson

At Pelham

5 p.m. Oak Mtn. vs. Pelham

7 p.m. – Homewood vs. John Carroll

At Mtn. Brook

5:30 p.m. Spain Park vs. Mtn. Brook

7 p.m. Pinson vs. Ramsey

Saturday, March 28

At Spain Park

9 a.m. – Spain Park vs. Oak Mtn (rescheduled from Wed.)

At Hoover

9 a.m. Briarwood vs. Indian Springs (rescheduled from Wed.)

Division A semifinal at Hoover

1 p.m. – A1 winner v wildcard

Division A semifinal at Pelham

1 p.m. – A2 winner v A3 winner

Division B Championship at Hoover

5 p.m. – B1 winner v B2 winner

Division A Championship at Hoover

7 p.m. – A Division championship