By Erica Solvig and Michael D. Clark
The Cincinnati Enquirer

DEERFIELD TWP. - Kings Schools' football stadium, as well as playing and practice fields at the junior-senior campus, will remain closed - possibly for the entire school year - until lead-contaminated soil can be cleaned up.

Test results released Wednesday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency showed 17 of the roughly 100 tested locations had lead levels above the acceptable 400 parts per million. The levels reached 4,187 ppm in the stadium area, and were as high as 805 ppm around the school's baseball field.

The Columbia Road site was used as a skeet shooting range until the 1960s.

It is not yet clear how long the cleanup would take, how much it would cost, or even who would pay.

But until then, the George G. King Memorial Stadium, baseball and softball fields, some practice fields, and areas around the junior high entrance remain off-limits. The 63-acre campus is home to about 1,600 junior and senior high students.

"My guess is we will not be playing baseball on our field this spring," Superintendent Chuck Mason said.

The school is still trying to figure out where games and events will be held, including the first football home game Sept. 12, and the Sept. 13 marching band invitational.

For more than two seasons, the Kings football Knights have not lost a home game on their field, which regularly attracts crowds of more than 4,000 people.

"I'm really disappointed for our seniors," coach Andy Olds said during practice Wednesday after hearing that the Knights' home field would be gone for the season.

"Some of them have worked hard and have been waiting a long time to play at home," said Olds, who has coached for 12 years at the Warren County school.

The Knights, whose first three games of the football season are away, will likely play at nearby Galbraith Field, less than a quarter-mile from the high school, Olds said.

"All the senior players are disappointed, but a field is a field," senior football player Nick Moffitt said. "As long as we have someplace to play, we'll be fine."

E-mail esolvig@enquirer.com and mclark@enquirer.com