Canyons’ Field Remains Empty and Waiting

Pierce Stadium, perhaps the finest football facility in the Valley area, once again will be the site of junior college football this season with the return of the Brahma program after a two-year absence.

But the stadium at College of the Canyons, which is on par with the one at Pierce, will remain void of junior college football for the seventh consecutive season.

Lee Smelser, athletic director at Canyons, said the school dropped its football program because of costs, faculty disenchantment with the preponderance of out-of-state players and the lack of community identification the situation created.

Despite almost yearly rumblings of the sport’s possible return, Smelser said a resurrection is not planned in the near future.

“A football program can be a real pivotal point as far as colleges are concerned,” said Smelser, who coaches softball and men’s basketball at the school. “But you can have a successful athletic program without it.”

Smelser applauded Pierce’s decision to bring its program back.

Unlike Canyons, which legally can recruit from only Canyon, Hart and Saugus highs, Smelser said there are more than enough high schools to supply Pierce with players.

“I think football belongs at Pierce,” Smelser said. “They have plenty of schools to draw from and the Valley needed another school where area kids could go and play.”