HELENA — At Vigilante Stadium, the Helena Public School Facility and Maintenance team cleared off snow ahead of the Helena Capital and Missoula Sentinel Class AA semifinal playoff football matchup on Friday night.
This week has been a wintry one with snow blanketing the city. The Helena Public School Maintenance team has been working hard to keep the field football ready for game.
On Wednesday morning, maintenance workers were clearing snow all around the stadium as early as 3 a.m. Helena Public Schools Director of Facilities, Todd Verrill, and his team are continuing to keep the field clear of new snow.
"We had about eight folks out here as well, had a couple of jeeps, a couple of other implements as well, and then a lot of shovels clearing off this field. So a football field is about 1.32 acres. So we've cleared off about one and a half acres of this ground here between then and today," said Verrill.
The maintenance team is doing a lot more than just taking care of Vigilante Stadium. They also have been taking care of clearing snow around the Helena Public Schools too.
"The school district simply wouldn't operate if it wasn't for the crew at the facilities maintenance office. They typically, at least in this storm, were out at 3:00 in the morning. They started with the school sidewalks, parking lots and so on and so forth at all of the schools in the district to make sure that they were ready to go for the students to arrive on both Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings," said Verrill
Both the Helena Capital and Missoula Sentinel teams worked hard to get to this point, and the maintenance team wants to give both the players and fans the best experience possible.
"The team at the facilities maintenance office is really, really proud of both Helena High and Capital High and getting this field ready for both last week's game and then this week's game as well for Capital High. And they put in a full effort," said Verrill.
On top of clearing snow, the maintenance team also is helping repaint the field so it's in perfect condition for Friday's game. Verrill couldn't be more proud of his crew.
"They did the hard work. They were out here. And when everybody else was hunkered down in their homes and I'm you'll be able to tell when you come to the game on Friday night that the work they did really paid off," said Verrill.
The Helena Public School Facility and Maintenance Team will continue to clear off snow for Friday's game in hopes for the Bruins reach the finals to continue their undefeated season.
