Play Ball: Montville High's Synthetic Turf Field Ready

The new synthetic turf field at Montville Township High School is complete and ready for action.

Business Administrator Jim Tevis said during the Board of Education meeting Tuesday night that school officials walked the field with the contractor during the day and "opened it up for general use of students this afternoon."

"We're a go," he said.

After a parent expressed frustration that the district has not completed a new baseball field, Superintendent Dr. Paul Fried said the synthetic turf field installation went so flawlessly that completing a project on as neat of a timeline is hard to duplicate.

Fried said the project was "completed today way ahead of expectations." Tevis had said at the last school board meeting he expected it to be completed in time for graduation.

The field is the school district's first synthetic turf field

Photos documenting construction progress were shared on the high school Twitter account, @MustangsMTHS. Montville-based Applied Landscape Technologies purchased naming rights for the field and is paying for the project. The project came together this year after voters rejected a previous plan in 2011 that called for using up to $990,000 in school district surplus.