HURON, S.D. — Huron High School will move its home football games to afternoon kickoffs this fall after engineers determined the remaining light poles at Tiger Stadium have potential foundation failure points following severe storm damage earlier this month.
The Huron School District announced Tuesday that engineering inspections found the stadium’s remaining light poles pose a safety hazard and will need to be removed. One light pole collapsed during the July 2 storm, damaging the track and artificial turf.
District officials said the stadium has remained closed while staff, insurance representatives, structural engineers and contractors assess the damage and develop a repair plan.
An outside contractor is scheduled to repair the damaged turf during the week of Aug. 10. The district said Tiger Stadium will reopen once the light poles have been removed and the turf repairs are complete.
Without stadium lighting, Huron will adjust the start times for home athletic events this fall. Beginning Sept. 3, home soccer matches will start at 3 p.m. for junior varsity and 5 p.m. for varsity.
The Tigers’ home varsity football games on Sept. 11, Sept. 18, Sept. 25, Oct. 16 and Oct. 22 will all kick off at 4:30 p.m. instead of their traditional evening start times. That includes Huron’s Eastern South Dakota Conference matchup against Mitchell on Thursday, Oct. 22, which will now begin at 4:30 p.m. rather than the originally scheduled 7 p.m. kickoff.
Activities Director Scott DeBoer thanked the community, athletes and coaches for their patience as the district works to restore the facility, saying the schedule changes are intended to minimize disruptions while maintaining a safe environment for players and fans.