Wauwatosa East High School football team will play its home opener on the road, as well as at least three home games on West High School's football field, due to flood damage at the Hart Park football stadium.
East Athletic Director Andrew Thompson informed school administrators, coaches and band leaders of the updated schedule in an email on Aug. 11, one day after the Menomonee River flooded Hart Park, swamping the football field and pushing its artificial turf into rolls, bunches and heaps.
The Aug. 21 varsity home opener, Thompson said, will be moved from Hart Park to the stadium at Vincent High School, in Milwaukee's northwest corner. Tosa East is scheduled to play Riverside University High in that game.
East's next three home games will be played at the Tosa West field. The team is scheduled to play there on Sept. 19 against Tosa West, Oct. 3 against West Allis Central and Oct. 10 against Catholic Memorial. The junior varsity team will play its home games at the same stadiums.
The teams other five regular season games are scheduled as away games.
Coach Tom Swittel, in an Aug. 10 email to football families, had voiced uncertainty about the condition of the team's locker room and gear stored at Hart Park, but after administrators inspected the facilities on Aug. 11, Swittel was able to provide a more hopeful update.
"I've got great news," he said in a message to the team that also was shared in a social media post from the Red Raider Touchdown Club. "Unbelievably none of the equipment in the locker room got wet. All of our stuff is safe, and sound, and more importantly dry."
The team has begun practicing this week on the fields up the hill at Tosa East. Players will soon transfer their gear from Hart Park and to the team room at the school.
This remains a highly anticipated football season for the Red Raiders, after last year's team won its conference for the first time in nearly 30 years and beat Tosa West in the playoffs before losing to Slinger.
The changes to Tosa East football's schedule also will affect the school's band program, which typically uses the home game concession stands one of its main fundraisers. Its booster club also has sold concessions at Marquette home games, which had been played at Hart Park until this season.
"Our marching band boosters club host concessions for our games and Marquette's games down at Hart Park," Thompson told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "We're looking at a big, big number that they are missing out on hosting those concessions and that trickle effect is starting to catch up to me because we can look at the pictures. We can see the turf, but it's affecting a lot more than football."
The school's band boosters hope to still be able to sell concessions at its own three home games to be played at Tosa West, though it also put out a call for donations on social media.
"This week, our band family was hit with heartbreaking news," a post on Facebook said. "Flooding at Hart Park — the home of our football games and marching performances — has left the stadium severely damaged. ... Hart Park is also home to our concession stand — our biggest source of fundraising each year. Without it, the financial hit to our program is devastating. We need your help to keep the music alive."
