STADIUM COALITION MELTS INTO TURF WAR SAUGUS PARENTS, ADMINISTRATORS RESIST TEAM MOVE.

Byline: Eugene Tong Staff Writer

VALENCIA - The sign near the entrance to the future Valencia High football stadium touts it as the home field for both the Saugus High Centurions and Valencia's Vikings, but Saugus administrators and parents aren't interested in calling rival turf ``home.''

The Centurions, they say, should continue playing home games at College of the Canyons - sharing that space not only with the college, but with Hart High.

``Saugus has played there for almost 30 years,'' Barbara DeRousseau, Saugus Gridiron booster club co-president, said of the college field. ``There's a sense of tradition, of watching years and years of homecoming and gatherings and graduations, and that's where we would like to stay.''

In the William S. Hart Union High School District, just one school has a stadium - Canyon High, where Valencia plays its home games. Now, the William S. Hart Union High School District board has approved the purchase of bleachers and other improvements at Valencia for a 4,800-capacity stadium, a dream come true for Valencia boosters.

The Centurions-Vikings coalition began about three years ago, said Saugus Assistant Principal Frank Ferry, Valencia's former student government director. Long before the Hart board approved $9.6 million in athletic facility upgrades slated for the district's four high school campuses, the Valencia stadium had been a pipe dream.

Valencia and Saugus administrators, coaches and parents gathered to jointly promote the idea, Ferry said. The group even persuaded The Newhall Land and Farming Company to donate a $300,000 lighting system and the banner lining the proposed stadium site.

``We went out and got the lights in the stadium, and the intent was to have two home sides,'' said Ferry, also a member of the Santa Clarita City Council. ``It was an excellent partnership.''

But the coalition waned over the years as administrators and coaches changed jobs and parents saw their student athletes graduate, Ferry said.

``Since then, different people have come to different conclusions,'' he said. ``Saugus would rather stay at COC, which is fine. Ultimately, the (Valencia) stadium will be shared. As long as two schools are sharing one site, the bang for your buck is still there for the school district.''

With two new high schools scheduled to open by 2007 on the district's west side, there are options for sharing.

``To us, it doesn't matter who it is as long as one of them is Valencia,'' Hart board President Phil Ellis said.

Saugus Principal Bill Bolde suggested that either West Ranch or Castaic high schools, scheduled to open within the next four years, could be paired with Valencia.

``We are 100 percent behind Valencia High having a stadium to support football,'' he said. ``But with two new schools going up, rather than play with our identity, have one of the new schools partner with Valencia High.

``We have thousands of graduates who went through there and their identity has always been COC. When people come back to homecoming, they want to go back to COC where they grew up playing or watching Saugus football.''

Saugus booster DeRousseau said their land-locked campus can barely accommodate all its athletic programs, let alone a new football stadium. But she bared no ill will at the Vikings' good fortune.

``It is very nice for their school,'' she said. ``If things were different and we could have one at Saugus, that's fantastic. The reality is we can't have one at Saugus. But we can have a stadium where we've celebrated football games for almost 30 years.''

Eugene Tong, [phone]

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com

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(color) Despite what this sign says, Saugus High School might not be sharing a football stadium with rival Valencia High School, if administrators and boosters have their way.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer