Don Dunn attended a Veritas Christian High football game a couple of years ago and was duly unimpressed.

Oh, the product was fine. The Eagles had a decent football team, but Dunn, pastor of First Church of the Nazarene, couldn’t say the same for the venue.

“I went to the game because a couple of kids from our church went to Veritas,” Dunn said, “and I noticed the field was in poor shape and that the lighting was dismal.”

The Eagles were playing at one of the Youth Sports Inc. grass fields, with the illumination being provided by six fuel-powered portable light units.

“One of our kids made a play that affected Veritas negatively,” Dunn continued, “and that stuck with me.”

Now thanks to Dunn and many others, Veritas Christian’s eight-man team has its own field, and the Eagles will make their debut there today.

Kickoff will be at 7 p.m. against Topeka Cair Paravel. Sunflower Broadband Channel 6 will have a delayed telecast at 10:30 tonight.

The new Veritas football facility is located on First Church of the Nazarene property on 1000 Road about a quarter-mile west of Haskell Street. In another context, it’s about five miles south of Haskell Stadium as the crow flies.

“Our kids and their families are excited about having their own field,” said Doug Bennett, the school’s football coach and athletic director. “They’ve put in many hours of volunteer work to get it ready.”

Dunn’s suggestion

Veritas Christian, located at Second and Michigan streets, had always planned to build a new school building complete with a football field and other athletic facilities on 13 acres not too far from First Church of the Nazarene, but relocation plans for U.S. Highway 59 wiped out two of those acres.

Suddenly, Dunn’s suggestion that Veritas build at First Church of the Nazarene became more appealing.

“We were always thinking of developing our property, and not necessarily on our own,” Dunn said. “We talked to several entities, and Veritas was one of those.”

First Church of Nazarene has plenty of land to spare. Once landlocked at 20th and Massachusetts streets, the church purchased a 91-acre farmstead nearly a decade ago, and much of it is still used for growing crops. Fans at tonight’s game will walk past hay bales on their way from the church’s gravel parking lot to the field about 50 yards away.

Money for the Eagles’ new home came “mostly from family donations and corporate sponsorships,” Bennett said.

So far the facility doesn’t have a name.

“That hasn’t been decided yet,” Bennett said. “Eventually, it will, and we want to have the kids have some input into naming it.”

The football field itself is a regulation 100 yards instead of the 80-yard alignment used for the eight-man game on the assumption that someday Veritas Christian will boast enough students to move up to 11-man football.

“It’s crowned for a 100-yard field, too,” Bennett said, “and the goal posts are removable so we can also play soccer there.”

Surrounding the field is the dirt outline of a future six-lane running track that won’t be surfaced until more funds are available.

Seating for 400

Stands that will seat about 400 have been placed on the west side. No press box exists, but Bennett says they hope to have one erected in time for the 2008 season.

Four permanent light standards – two on each side of the football field – are in place. When the Eagles played at YSI, they had to pay about $750 per game to rent portable lights.

On the whole, the project is a noteworthy example of ecumenical and scholastic cooperation.

First Church of the Nazarene “was willing to work with us,” Bennett said. “They had available land, and they see it as an outreach to work with our school. We share a common vision.”