University of Mount Union Chooses AstroTurf for Stadium Field
The Mountain Union Purple Raiders Are Ready for Another Winning Season on a New High-Tech AstroTurf Surface
ALLIANCE, Ohio, June 24, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Known as the team to beat in NCAA Division III football, the Mount Union Purple Raiders now have a brand-new winning advantage. With a freshly installed AstroTurf® 3D3 turf system and Trionic Blend 52 fibers, the players will host home games on a field that offers unrivaled stability, safety, and performance, as well as impressive aesthetics.
After putting the game on hold in 2020 because of COVID-19, the Purple Raiders are looking forward to another knockout season with a state-of-the-art field engineered by the leaders in synthetic turf technology. The new AstroTurf® system was installed at Mount Union Stadium, giving the oldest college football stadium in Ohio a cutting-edge upgrade and enabling the strongest Division III team to give it their all for a year in sports the whole world has been waiting for.
Head coach Geoff Dartt will enter his second season Mount Union, but the first full season on the sideline. He did lead the Purple Raiders to victories over Muskingum, John Carroll, Marietta, and Heidelberg in the spring of 2021.
Those victories marked the school's 31st Ohio Athletic Conference title. The Raiders in the spring 2021 led the nation in total offense (548 yards per game), team passing efficiency (182.84) and passing offense (409 yards per game).
Prior to becoming head coach, Dartt spent seven years as an assistant coach for the Purple Raiders and five of those years as offensive coordinator.
In five years as offensive coordinator, his unit has led the nation in nine different statistical categories including leading the nation in scoring three times.
A native of Port Clinton, Ohio, Dartt was a three-year letter winner as an offensive lineman at Mount Union. He was part of three national championship teams (2002, 2005, 2006) and was an All-Ohio Athletic Conference selection in 2007. He graduated in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in health and physical education.
This will be the second recent AstroTurf® installation for the University of Mount Union Athletics. In 2018, the school upgraded its practice field with artificial turf using AstroTurf®'s RootZone 3DSF system. The practice field, the Sean M. Moore Field at Wable Park, is used by all of Mount Union's athletic programs, including football, men's and women's soccer, and men's and women's lacrosse.
The new field at Mount Union Stadium is the home turf for the football team and the men's and women's soccer teams. The RootZone 3D3 system, AstroTurf®'s most popular synthetic turf product, provides players with a number of benefits, including grass-like traction, consistent shock attenuation, and minimized torque to lower extremities. It includes a texturized layer of fibers, known as the RootZone, which are more effective at holding the infill material in place. This results in less infill migration and minimal rubber splash, as well as better shock absorption for the athletes.
The University of Mount Union is the top Division III football with 13 national championships, including recent wins in 2015 and 2017, and boasts 12 undefeated seasons. Notable alumni include former NFL greats Jim Ballard, Cecil Short, Pierre Garcon, and Scott Woolf, as well as Nick Sirianni, head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, Jason Candle, head coach at the University of Toledo, and Matt Campbell of Iowa State.
Playing in the Ohio Athletic Conference, the Purple Raiders have an incredible record with 30 conference titles in 35 years and a 24-year streak from 1992 to 2015. During that time, they went 214-2 against all of their conference opponents.
They'll kick off the fall season on September 4th against Westminster College. On the 18th, they'll play their first home game on the new AstroTurf® at Mount Union Stadium against the Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets.
About AstroTurf®
For athletes and sports enthusiasts, AstroTurf® has redefined the way the game is played. The brand offers advanced, multi-sport, and specialized synthetic turf systems with proprietary engineered technologies. A growing number of high schools, colleges, professional sports teams, and municipalities continue to select AstroTurf-branded products for their premium quality, technical superiority, and reliable safety. To learn more, visit AstroTurf's website at http://www.astroturf.com.
Media Contact
Gary Jones, AstroTurf, 8007238873, [email protected]
SOURCE AstroTurf
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