Pair of South County Schools Prepare Unveilings : Facilities: Trabuco Hills’ $3-million football stadium will be ready Sept. 13, and Capistrano Valley’s $2-million gymnasium will open Dec. 17.

The wait is nearly over as work crews put the finishing touches on two of the finest high school athletic facilities in Orange County.

Trabuco Hills will unveil its state-of-the-art, $3-million football stadium with a gala opener Sept. 13 against El Toro. Capistrano Valley will follow with the grand opening of its $2-million gymnasium in a basketball game Dec. 17 against Corona del Mar.

For the past 10 years, Capistrano Valley High School basketball Coach Mark Thornton has been forced to play his home games at nearby Saddleback College. Thornton estimates his teams have played seven games in a small, 400-seat gym on campus that’s used for practice.

But Thornton’s plight pales in comparison to the football facility crunch in the Saddleback Valley Unified School District, where Laguna Hills, Trabuco Hills, El Toro and Mission Viejo have shared the field at Mission Viejo High for the past six years.

The schools have been forced to play Thursday night or Saturday afternoon games to help alleviate the problem. Teams scrambled for choice Friday night dates. The heavy use took its toll. Generally, there wasn’t a blade of grass remaining on the field by the seventh week of the season.

Trabuco Hills football stadium, carved into the small foothills northwest of campus, will seat 5,000. The playing surface is Santa Ana hybrid grass with a one-foot crown at midfield for drainage.

Construction, headed by site superintendent Frank Haslinger, began last July and and is scheduled to be completed in August. Work was delayed only three weeks during the heavy rains in March.

A $15,000 scoreboard has been installed, the bleachers (seating 3,000 on the home side, 2,000 on the visitors’) are ready and the goal posts were secured last week. The 90-foot light standards are ready and an 18-foot masonry wall behind the visitors’ bleachers has been completed.

“We held our graduation exercises here Wednesday night,” said Bill Brand, Trabuco Hills principal. “We turned the lights on at 10 a.m. and didn’t turn them off until the program was over that night.”

Trabuco Hills and El Toro will share the facility that is expected to be filled Friday nights. The schools’ football programs are among the best in the county.

Trabuco Hills became an overnight success in football when it opened six years ago. The Mustangs won consecutive Division VIII championships in 1988 and 1989. El Toro won six league titles and three Southern Section championships under Coach Bob Johnson in 13 years.

Brand also envisions the facility playing host to section track and field championships. Crews will begin installing a nine-lane, all-weather track Friday. An Accutrack electronic timing system has been installed at two different starting positions and will be integrated with an auxiliary scoreboard for instantaneous results.

All high jump and long jump pits and pole vault and shotput areas have been built behind the end zones and away from playing areas.

The facility covers several acres on the 41-acre campus and will include its own version of California’s famous Strawberry Canyon. Risk-taking fans can climb the hill overlooking the northern end zone, but Brand has a warning for non-paying spectators.

“There’s a lot of rattlesnakes in those hills,” he said.

The new stadium guarantees all the schools in the district will play on Friday nights.

“No more Thursday night games,” Brand said. “I only wish I had a Tim Manning to fill the place every week.”

Thornton had his own wish list when he became a member of the planning committee to help design Capistrano Valley’s gymnasium. He envisioned coaches’ offices, team rooms, a weight room and a film room.

Thornton didn’t get everything he wanted, but Capistrano Valley’s sparkling $2-million gymnasium ranks with the county’s best indoor facilities at Santa Margarita, Brea-Olinda, Century and Ocean View.

The gymnasium, modeled after Canyon Springs High’s gym in Moreno Valley, will seat 1,950 (1,200 on the home side, 750 on the visitors’). The gym features 12 motorized skylights that brighten the white walls and illuminate the six glass backboards (two on the playing court, four more for practice) that hang from the ceiling.

“This will be a special place for Capistrano Valley kids to play,” Thornton said. “It was almost worth the wait. All you have to do is walk next door and look at the old gym to see that we have all the amenities in the new one.”

The 90-foot court is highlighted by the school’s logo, a Cougar, at midcourt. Gold stripes border the sidelines, the public address system features a compact disc player, and the two Nevco scoreboards cost $3,500 apiece.

The gym also has an elaborate alarm system, something Thornton discovered while checking on construction progress during winter break.

“My son and I came over to see how things were coming and we set the alarms off,” he said. “I didn’t even know there was an alarm system.”

Construction began in September and is scheduled to be completed Aug. 15. The bleachers, which are being shipped from Pennsylvania, have been delayed. Workers were also set back three weeks when they hit water and sewer lines to the boys’ locker room while digging the foundation.

The facility was funded through a partnership between the city of San Juan Capistrano’s redevelopment agency and the Capistrano Valley Unified School District.

The district agreed to trade the site of now-closed Capistrano High in downtown San Juan Capistrano Valley in return for a new gymnasium, swimming pool and a future 10-acre elementary school. The old high school is the future site of city hall.

“Under today’s economic conditions, building a new gymnasium probably wouldn’t happen, and building a new pool couldn’t happen,” said Bill Dawson, assistant superintendent of facilities and service for the district. “It was a win-win situation for everybody.”

A Whole New Ballgame Capistrano Valley High Gymnasium Cost: $2 million. Capacity: 1,950 (1,200 home side; 750 visitors’). How Funded: Agreement between the Capistrano Valley Unified District and the City of San Juan Capistrano’s Redevelopment Agency. Special Features: Ceiling has 12 motorized sky boxes; 90-foot floor; $7,000 scoreboards. Opening Event: Dec. 17 (Capistrano Valley vs. Corona del Mar basketball game).

Trabuco Hills High Football Stadium Cost: $3 million. Capacity: 5,000 (3,000 home side; 2,000 visitors’). How Funded: Mello-Roos Tax for homeowners in Portola Hills, Rancho Santa Margarita and Coto de Caza. Special Features: Nine-lane, all-weather track; $15,000 scoreboard. Opening Event: Sept. 13 (Trabuco Hills vs. El Toro football game).