WYOMING COUNTY, Pa. — It was all hands on deck early Saturday morning to fix the damage left at Lackawanna Trail Junior High Field Hockey Field near Factoryville.
"My first reaction was like, why would they do this? It's a junior high field hockey field, and I just couldn't believe that they did it," said Kacie Higgins, Lackawanna Trail student.
"The pictures were devastating to see the ruts that had been done and just knowing how hard our maintenance works to keep the field and how much work that is to try to fix it," said Mallory Griggs, Lackawanna Trail Junior High Field Hockey Head Coach.
District officials say sometime Thursday night or Friday morning, someone drove through the field, leaving deep ruts.
Word of the vandalism traveled fast, so it didn't take long for alumni and other members of the community to step in to help, donating their time and materials to get the field fixed.
"The response was immediate for people to come wanting to help. I probably received twenty phone calls and text messages within half the day of people saying how can I help? Can I donate money, can I lend a hand tamping, whatever we need to do, we are there," said Griggs.
The junior high field hockey team was away at Lake Lehman for play day when the work was done. When they returned home, the girls ran to check things out.
"I'm grateful for what our community did for us to fix our field," said Stella Minnick, Lackawanna Trail student.
"It's a reflection of the girls and a reflection of this community. You've seen us come together before for things. We are just a tight-knit community, and it's great that one little thing didn't put a damper. It was a negative thing, but everyone turned it into a positive," added Griggs.
Even though the field is fixed, the lions will have to wait a few weeks until they can play on it. Coach Griggs tells Newswatch 16 that the team will practice and host games on a different field in the meantime.
It's not known yet who is responsible for the vandalism; anyone with information is asked to contact state police in Wyoming County.
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