CONCORD — Mt. Diablo has discovered a house venue for not less than its first two soccer video games this season however not on campus after hearth destroyed its new subject.
Anticipated to unveil the multimillion-dollar turf on Friday night time, the soccer crew will as a substitute play its season opener in opposition to Terra Linda at close by Harmony Excessive.
Harmony may even be the house venue for Mt. Diablo’s sport on Sept. 5 in opposition to Vallejo. After that, it’s unclear the place the Purple Devils will play.
The modifications grew to become crucial after hearth engulfed the center of the Harmony faculty’s subject on Saturday night time. Authorities are investigating to find out the reason for the blaze, which stayed lit till early Sunday morning.
Faculty officers hope the sector will be repaired within the subsequent few weeks, which might enable the soccer crew to return to the sector for observe and video games earlier than the season ends.
The Purple Devils scheduled seven of their 9 regular-season video games at residence, together with six in a row to start the yr, in keeping with MaxPreps.
“Naturally the first instinct from the kids is that they’re all bummed out,” Mt. Diablo coach Fetuao Mua instructed the Bay Space Information Group on Tuesday. “I think the district’s working really hard to make sure we’re out on our field in the next two, three weeks. So, you know, we don’t expect to be away from home too long.”
Varsity soccer offensive line coach Rick Camacho examines the charred part of the soccer subject that was destroyed by vandalism at Mt. Diablo Excessive Faculty in Harmony, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. Faculty officers said that the sector caught on hearth on Saturday night. Monday afternoon the soccer crew was compelled to observe on the adjoining grass subject as a result of broken brought on by the fireplace. Gamers by no means even bought to play on the mutlimillion-dollar turf subject which was put in over the summer season break. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Space Information Group)
For the subsequent two weeks, Mt. Diablo will maintain soccer actions at Harmony Excessive, together with practices. Ought to conflicts come up, Principal Markell McCain instructed this information group that the college will look into holding video games and practices at Diablo Valley School, Los Medanos School or different Mt. Diablo Faculty District services.
McCain stated he doesn’t need to put a date for when the Mt. Diablo subject might be playable. However he and Mua imagine the sector might be repaired for video games this season.
Mt. Diablo’s turf subject and monitor have been put in in March at a value of about $3 million, in keeping with McCain.
McCain stated he wasn’t positive if the sector was insured – the district handles these selections – however the faculty has already began the method to have it repaired.
“We’ve reached out to the contractors who did the field and they’re trying to expedite the recovery order to repair the field,” McCain stated. “It might be an issue getting that type of turf because it was high-end turf. So getting that turf delivered to Concord is what I’m hearing is the major hold up.”
Harmony police and Contra Costa hearth departments are investigating the blaze, McCain stated..
Mt. Diablo has cameras that monitor its soccer subject, however McCain stated a perpetrator was not seen on video.
“It was so dark, it was 10:30 at night and all we could see was the flickering of a light,” McCain stated. “There were other cameras that caught footage that were not directly our cameras, but neighboring cameras. They could be resident cameras and stuff like that. From my understanding, those cameras caught some footage of stuff, so they’re gonna be sharing that with me this afternoon.”
Because the incident, the soccer crew has remained in good spirits. The Purple Devils held observe at an adjoining grass subject on Monday and had their greatest prep of the season, Mua stated.
Mua hopes to show the setback right into a life lesson for his crew.
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“It’s just a little adversity,” Mua stated. “That is going to offer us an opportunity to construct slightly extra character, and it’s simply one other pace bump within the street for us. It’s nothing we will’t deal with.
“Life throws you curve balls and sometimes you just have to learn how to roll with the punches. This situation is no different for us. At the end of the day, we still get to play the game we love. It’s sad to say, but there’s bigger problems out there in the real world. So this is just one minor obstacle and it’s actually fueled the kids.”
Improved safety on the subject might be an enormous emphasis for McCain as he works together with the district, together with potential nightly guards to observe the sector within the coming weeks.
“The big thing I’m going to be pushing for is security for that building. That’s a conversation we need to have,” McCain stated. “I think having (night guards) would be nice, but I really think just getting modern fencing around or having security gates like a lot of the other high schools have, would be sufficient.”
