This season’s varsity football team plays one game at Vernon Newsom Stadium and five at R.L. Anderson Stadium (RLA) raising questions of inequity about distribution of games among MISD high schools. This year, Legacy will play at RLA five times, two of those games as visitors against Timberview and Summit. Legacy has never been the visitor at RLA. And the homecoming game will be played at RLA, a first for Legacy

Last year Legacy played five games at Newsom, so, in order to be fair, the schedule flips among all five MISD high schools. To schedule games, each head coach in Mansfield ISD gets together and discusses the upcoming season. Coaches discuss factors for home games at Newsom such as fan base for visiting teams and size of school, then coaches distribute which schools will play at Newsom and which will play at RLA.

Athletic Director Chris Melson said he likes that fans are closer to the action at RLA, making the support closer to the players.

“We like playing at RLA. It is close to Legacy, and we can make it our home field advantage,” Coach Chris Melson said. “Our student body section could make RLA a huge advantage and could be loud, excited and fired up.”

RLA recently went under slight renovation, receiving a new video and scoreboard. Though Newsom Stadium seats more people, at RLA the student section is more compact and can be louder in the relatively small setting according to Coach Melson.

“If our student body will just get in there and just go crazy, we will have a blast,” Melson said. “I’ve always felt that our crowds were louder at RLA than Newsom because the sound just stays in that little stadium.”

Homecoming at RLA will also be a first for Legacy. The main reason homecoming didn’t occur at RLA before was because there was no video board. Because of the new scoreboard addition, Coach Melson said it makes it easier for parents to see their children and students to see the action taking place on the field.

“As the head coach I always want our homecoming to be within the first three games,” Coach Melson said, “because I don’t want a big distraction during district ball games.”

Coach Melson said players and coaches love the student section and believe they can make RLA Legacy’s home stadium this season. Players just want to play and love the support.

“Legacy did not just get the short end of the stick,” Melson said. “There’s a momentum for this sport to be huge this Friday. I think the student body should just be all over this and have fun with it and make it special.”

Homecoming early in the football season has seemingly become a tradition for Legacy students, which hasn’t bothered Senior Class President Parker Brown.

“Honestly it hasn’t really affected me in anyway,” Brown said. “I guess because I am so used to it being this early in the school year.”