School Appeals Impacting Wildcat Sports Schedule

In less than one month, sports teams will be taking the field for the fall season. But where exactly they'll be taking the field remains to be seen.

Before the original appeal was filed earlier this year, school officials planned to have an artificial turf field installed for the start of this season. However, the .

Instead, turf installation was slated to begin during the season to be completed in time for Wilmington to host its Thanksgiving Day battle against rival Tewksbury in November. In that scenario, the football team would have been forced to play home games outside of town while other Wildcat teams would host games in venues around Wilmington.

But now that a that are likely to , plans have changed again.

"Based on the information I have, we will most likely have our regular schedule with fall sports," said Superintendent of Schools Joanne Benton. "It is the students who are losing out. We were so looking forward to hosting the Thanksgiving game on our new field."

No final decision has been made yet, but Benton said that will likely come at the beginning of next week.

Town Manager Michael Caira previously told Wilmington Patch that unless last week's appeals are settled in an extremely short period of time, it is likely that this year's teams will be able to play home games at Alumni Stadium since turf installation will be on hold.

According to Benton, Athletics Director Ed Harrison has six different scenarios ready to go in an effort to be prepared for the fall season.

"It is disappointing to say the least that the project has been delayed," said Benton.