Aug. 16—Albuquerque is gaining an additional high school football stadium with lights this fall.
For one night, at least.
One of the highlights of the upcoming 2021 prep football season in the metro area is the experiment Albuquerque Academy is attempting on Saturday, Oct. 2.
The private school will bring in temporary lights for its 7 p.m., District 5/6-4A game against Bernalillo, as the Chargers play a night home game for the first time in school history.
“There is something magical about playing at night,” Academy Head of School Julianne Puente said.
Academy has for decades played its home football games almost exclusively on Saturday afternoons, and the Chargers’ stadium, Richard A. Harper Memorial Field, makes for one of New Mexico’s most picturesque settings.
But Puente, who said she tried something similar at a private school in New York many years ago, wanted the Academy to stick a proverbial toe into the water.
“I only see the upside of this,” she said. “I look forward to this being a great community event.”
It will be the second night game that weekend, after the boys soccer team takes on Del Norte on Friday, Oct. 1.
This could portend the possibility of Academy adding permanent lights in the near future, Puente said.
“I couldn’t think of a reason not to do it,” she said of the weekend events.
The night games are part of a makeover of the Harper stadium. A new track surface should be finalized sometime next week. There is a new scoreboard, and the stadium is also being painted.
With lights, Academy football coach Shaun Gehres said, “it would be a premier facility.”
Academy athletic director Taryn Bachis said the boys soccer game on Oct. 1 likely will begin at 6:30 p.m.