While the Artesian football teams will obviously benefit from the new field, so will the middle schools and Martinsville Junior Football League, all of which play on West Middle School’s field. That field gets worn down by the amount of usage.

“Our intent is to play our middle school and youth football league games on the (new) field,” Lipps said, adding there could be some scheduling conflicts when the marching band needs it. “Ninety percent is our intention.”

The field would also be used by East Middle School and the high school junior varsity team for practices, neither of which has a full-sized field to practice on.

The school is landlocked and with West’s poor condition, the need for an improved field was obvious. Lipps estimates that the high school field was used close to 70 hours last year. That number could grow to 700, he said, with the youth football league, middle school football teams and band now taking advantage.